The war between kinds
by Will O Wisp191
Summary: In ancient times, there were several different races, two of the main ones being humans and aura users. There is currently a war going on between these two races and one teen seeks to stop it, by any means necessary. Follow him on an epic journey where he will encounter different places, dangers and people. This is the story of an aura user, this is the story of Ash.
1. Chapter 1

"Ash, Gary, we need to go now!" Shouted a very rushed aura guardian, his name was Aaron Ketchum, Ash's father. The aura guardian grabbed the two of them by their arms and began to run through the burning wrecks that were once houses and shops. The raven haired boy was confused, wasn't his father supposed to be on the front lines of the battle between the aura users and humans? Ash looked around, from every direction he could see people running and screaming, the town was being invaded. By humans...

Ash snapped his eyes open and sprung upwards out of his bed, he was breathing heavily and had a cold sweat on his forehead. He looked around, it was just a dream...Or more likely a nightmare. He walked over to look out of the slightly dirty window, the sun was just peaking over the mountains, time to get ready. He sauntered over to a pile of clothes that were by his bed and began to get changed, once he was done he checked how he looked in the mirror on the door. He was wearing an blue tunic with black leather trousers and black boots, he was ready to go, he grabbed his satchel and made his way downstairs.

As he reached the last step, a strong smell of cooking food filled his nose, he smiled and walked into the kitchen. "Morning mom!" He said cheerfully as he entered the kitchen, his mother turned to greet her son with a smile on her face. "Good morning honey! You seen to be in a good mood today" Her face turned to a frown, "But I wish you brush that mop on your head!" Ash just chuckled and sat at the wooden dining table.

Ash they began to eat their breakfast, Ash remembered his nightmare and decided to ask his mother about it, "Hey mom" He said, getting her attention, "Do any aura users have...I dunno...Future sight abilities?" He said slowly whilst playing with the sausages that were on his plate, Delia frowned, "That's a strange thing to ask but...I don't think I've heard of any who do...why do you ask?" She asked curiously, Ash shrugged, "Just checking" He said quickly as he finished his food and stood up, "Well, I'll be off, I need to meet Gary" His mother nodded and followed him to the door, "Have a good day honey" She said as she waved him off, Ash nodded and stepped out into the fresh morning air.

As Ash was walking along the trail, he took in the view, you could see all the way to the horizon from his town since it was up in the mountains. There was a light layer of snow over the highest points of the mountains around him, he looked down into the valleys where the rivers ran and the wildlife gathered, they were only just receiving the first of their sunlight. he carried on walking but then stopped. On the far mountain's side in front of him he could have swore he saw something glimmering silver, but as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone... He thought for a few moments but the shrugged it off, if it was something dangerous then one of the lookouts would have called out, it was probably just a reflection of sunlight from some melting snow. That was the reason why this place was called the shining mountains. He continued to walk on wards towards his destination.

A while later, Ash arrived at a big stone building, it had a big sign on the front gate that said 'Aura training institute'. This was where he went to school and learned how to use his kind's trump card, aura. He walked over and leaned against one of the walls in the huge courtyard and folded his arms, he began to wait for a certain spiky haired brunette. Aura users were known for mostly having black hair, like Ash's, but there were rare cases where a person would sometimes have brown hair like Gary and Ash's mother. He took a small gem out of his pocket and began to inspect it, he had found it in one of the mountain's rivers last week and had been mesmerised by it ever since, it was dark blue and shaped like a rain drop. It seemed to glow whenever he held it. The sound of Gary's voice brought him out of his thoughts, "Hey Ash!" Shouted the brunette as he ran over to him, "Are you excited about learning our first attacks today?" He asked excitedly as they began to walk into the building together, Ash nodded with a grin on his face, "I can't wait! It's gonna be awesome!" Gary smirked, "Just try to keep up with my talent, maybe you should take notes" Gary teased with his usual cocky attitude, Ash rolled his eyes.

Later on at lunch, Ash and Gary were back in the courtyard, lazing around. A group of girls the same age as them walked past, one of them looked at Ash and blushed slightly, the other girls picked up on this and began to giggle. As they were about to walk away, a necklace fell out of the girl's pocket and onto the ground, Ash noticed that the girl hadn't realised so he went to pick it up. As he did so, the gem in the necklace was glowing bright blue and was spreading the light through out Ash's body. The group of girls all turned around with wide eyes, "Woah..." Said Ash, Gary didn't know what was going on either, he held out the necklace for the girl to take back. "Here, you dropped this" He said with a goofy grin, the girl was blushing deep red, she was about to take it back when she suddenly froze. Ash tilted his head in confusion, "What's wrong?" He asked curiously, "Y-Your eyes...T-They're glowing blue..." She said slowly, Ash looked at Gary and saw that his mouth was hanging open, he would have laughed if this wasn't as serious as it was. He quickly turned to look at the girl again and dropped the necklace into her hand, as soon as he did, the glow faded and his eyes returned to their normal brown colour. "T-Thanks..." She mumbled shyly and then began to walk away, Ash returned to Gary and they both sat on a bench. "Dude, what was that?" Gary asked curiously, Ash shrugged, "It just happened when I touched that necklace" He said, dumbfounded.

At the end of the school day, Ash and Gary were walking home, Gary clicked his fingers as an idea popped into his head. "Dude, maybe it was one of those aura surge things" He said, Ash looked at him with a raised brow, "I couldn't have been, I wasn't sad or angry" Gary shrugged, "It looked like one, but I'm glad that it wasn't, you know happens when you have an aura surge right?" Ash smiled, "Left" He had a habit of saying that when he didn't quite understand what Gary was talking about, the brunette rolled his eyes. "Well, people who have aura surges technically lose it, they release all of their power and go on a rampage. It's triggered by experiencing a very serious negative emotion like hatred or grief, the chance of death for someone in an aura surge is very high since they practically burn themselves out and die from fatigue. The lucky ones who survive are normally found and killed by human patrols since it takes a long time to recover before you can even lift a finger! Although, it's a very rare ability for us...Only a few people have it and most of those who do, don't even know it!" Ash's eyes were wide, "Seriously Gary, you should become an aura professor! You know everything about this stuff!" Gary snorted, "Really? This was what we learned about first lesson, weren't you listening?" He said with a confused look on his face, Ash scratched the back of his head with a goofy grin, Gary laughed slightly. "You fell asleep again didn't you?" Ash nodded, Gary laughed again and they continued to walk home. Ash could have swore that he saw that shining again, it seemed to be moving...Closer...

Ash pushed the door open and walked in, followed by Gary. "Mom! I'm home! I brought Gary over!" He shouted, his mother walked into the living room from the kitchen. "Hello Gary! Please, make yourself at home." She said happily, Delia considered Gary a second son, he was always welcome to come to the ketchum household. "Thank you miss ketchum" He said with a smile on his face, Delia waved her hands, "Call me Delia honey, there's no need for you to be formal, you've been coming over here since you were little!" Gary nodded, Ash decided to butt in, "Uh mom, me and Gary were thinking of going into the mountains for a while, can we?" Delia thought for a moment, her son was seventeen, he needed to explore at some time..."Okay honey...But be careful, do you know any aura attacks?" She asked cautiously, Ash nodded with a grin, "I can make an aura sword and Gary can form a bow, we should be fine, the only dangerous things up there are snow leopards but they're quite rare." His mother nodded, "Okay, have a fun time!" She said as the two teens walked out of the door.

(Half an hour later)

Ash and Gary were sitting at their favourite spot on the mountain, it was near the edge of a cliff that had a gorgeous view of everything as far as the eye could see. To their left was a crystal clear river that flowed over the edge and made a beautiful waterfall, to their right were various different berry bushes and nut trees. Ash had a handful of berries, Gary on the other hand, had a handful of nuts. They had just been sitting quietly, occasionally eating and taking in the view. Gary spoke up, "Hey Ash" He said, getting the raven haired teen's attention, "What do you think of the humans?" Ash raised a brow, "Where did this come from?" Gary shrugged, "Nowhere, just wondering" He said casually as he popped another nut into his mouth, Ash looked back out over the mountain range, "They're greedy bastards who only care about how much something benefits them if they do it. They're also cold blooded killers and should be the ones who have a tiny population, not us..." He said with a harsh tone in his voice, Gary tilted his head, "Maybe not all of them, they have families too you know" Ash didn't look at him, he continued to stare at the horizon, "We don't kill their families, we only defend ourselves but they continue to attack and our population gets smaller every day, this is the last stronghold for us. If they find this place...It's all over..." Gary looked at him with a sad look, "Your father has been a big influence in this decision hasn't he?" Ash ignored him, "Ash, maybe they are taking orders? Perhaps they're being forced to do these things" Ash's eyes snapped in Gary's direction, "Why are you defending them! Have you forgotten what they did to your parents!?" As soon as Ash said that, he wished he hadn't, that was too far. Gary's face shaded over, "Woah...Gary, I didn't mean it like that man, I'm sorry..." Ash said guiltily, A few seconds passed before Gary replied, "It's okay...I know that you hate them for that, but to be honest, I just want the war to end...I want peace, not more deaths." Ash shrugged, "Who knows, maybe we will have peace someday" Gary nodded, just then, Ash noticed the shine again. "There it is again...What is that?" Gary raised a brow, "What?" He asked curiously, Ash pointed at the silver shining that was now heading up the side of the mountain that their town was on, "That" Gary's eyes went wide, "Dude...That's what steel looks like when sun reflects off of it." Ash raised a brow, "What do you mean?" Gary's face turned to one of horror, "Those are battle ready humans...We're under attack..."

(20 minutes later)

Smoke...Screaming...Swords clashing...It was all that the two teens could hear and smell as they sprinted to their town through the trees. They were running full out, their legs ached and their lungs screamed for more oxygen, but they had to keep going. They finally broke through the last of the branches and saw what horrified them, the entire town was on fire, corpses were everywhere...Ash saw that the main group of attackers had headed down the street to his left...That street lead to his house...To his mother. "Gary, go check if your grandpa is okay, I need to find mom" Gary looked hesitant but eventually agreed, "I don't think that it's a good idea to split up but...We do need to find people as quickly as possible...Okay fine, but please, don't get killed" Gary pleaded, Ash scoffed, "Are you kidding, a guy as handsome as me won't go down easily" He shouted as he took off down the lane, taking the back streets to avoid the human soldiers.

Ash vaulted over the last wicker fence and made it to his house, just as he burst through the back door, a soldier kicked in the front one. His mother was cowering in the kitchen, "A-Ash...R-Run..." She whispered weakly, she was trembling, Ash growled. He formed an aura sword and walked into the living room, he saw three strong looking men, all of them were wearing light silver chain mail. The living room had been trashed, the wooden stools had been thrown against the wall and the men were already going through all of his family's belongings. They hadn't noticed him walk in, "Hey! Fat asses, that's my stuff!" Their heads snapped in his direction, when they saw the glowing blue blade that he was holding, they instantly pulled out their own swords. "Seems we've got a rat in here" Said one of them, they didn't appear to be taking him seriously, "Brave little brat aint ya" Said another, "More like stupid" Snickered the last, Ash sighed, "And I thought that the humans had decent soldiers" He grinned, "You let me down..." He said with fake sadness, "We'll see how long you can keep up that cocky attitude, bet that it will fade along with your pulse once my sword is in your heart" Said the biggest one darkly. Ash grinned, "Iv'e always wanted to slay a human, time to make dad proud, bring it!" Ash taunted as he took a battle stance, the biggest one charged first.

The human brought down the sword in a fast chop, Ash swung his blade upwards and parried the attack, the hit sent shock waves through his arm. He then tried to bring the sword backwards and stab the soldier in the gut but he rotated his wrists and swatted his sword to the left. The human jumped backwards, "Not bad...If only you weren't an aura user..." Ash scoffed, "Then I'd rather be dead!" The human grinned, "You will be soon..." He lunged forward with the blade stretched out in front of him, at the last moment, Ash sidestepped and stuck out his foot. The soldier tripped and was sent flying into the wall with a huge crash, Ash was on him in a flash, the human brought up his weapon to block Ash's downward swipe but suffered a kick to the nether regions. He was winded and couldn't block the aura sword as it plunged into his chest and through his heart, ending his life.

Ash was panting, he was both relived and thrilled, he had slain his first human! He turned around just in time to dodge the side swipe from one of the other soldiers, "You bastard! You killed him!" Ash grinned, "And you're next..." He taunted, The soldier growled and rushed forward, readying an upward diagonal slash. Ash brought his blade downwards and blocked the attack but was head butted by a steel helmet in the process, he felt a warm liquid trickle down his nose. This time he attacked first, he went for a side swipe, the human bought up his sword into a defensive pose and was ready to block the attack. Ash's sword clanged against the soldier's and sent shock waves up both of their arms, but instead of stopping, Ash tackled the soldier with his whole body and knocked him to the ground. As he fell, the human dropped his sword, and was killed in the same way as his friend. A stab to the heart. Ash pulled his blade out of the dead soldier's chest and turned to look at the other, to his surprise, he was backed up against the wall. His sword was on the floor and he was whimpering, "P-P-Please d-don't kill m-me, I was o-only taking orders..." Ash raised a brow, "From who?" He asked without any emotion on his face, "T-The king, he was c-crowned last month, h-he said t-that we need to exterminate all a-aura users because they a-are too dangerous. If people don't listen to what he says...they're killed...But some people h-happily went along with it, I-I'm only doing this for my family." Ash looked him up and down, he had thought at first glance that he was strongly built, but he was actually quite chubby. And a coward as well. Ash sighed, "I should just kill you..." He said as he put a hand on his forehead, he noticed that it had blood on it from his nose. "P-Please, I b-beg you...I have a daughter...I only want to go home" He said as he started to tear up, Ash sighed again.

The human was thrown against the wall, he had a black eye and was missing a few teeth, "Okay...so what are you gonna do?" Asked Ash casually, "Go to tha captian and shay that I I fownd another aura villash wif the informashon I got fom a auwa user." He mumbled through his swollen lips, Ash nodded, "Good, make sure you don't come back!" He said coldly, "Now get out!" The man nodded and hobbled out of the house. Ash turned and walked into the kitchen, "Mom...Are you oka-" His face turned to one of horror and his voice cut off when he saw that his mother was gone, there was signs of a struggle, she must have been kidnapped whilst he was fighting. He prayed that the worst hadn't happened...

(2 minutes later)

Ash was running through street after street, the humans had moved further into the town now, Ash could hear the sounds of aura users fighting back. He rounded a corner and literally smashed into Gary, "Guh!" "Agh!" they both grunted. Gary's eyes went wide, "Ash! You're okay!" Ash nodded, "I see that your grandpa is okay" He said as he noticed the old man standing behind Gary, "Good to see you Ash!" He said happily, Gary changed the subject, "Where's your mom?" Ash's face turned to one of anger, "When I got to my house, there were three of those bastards in there" Gary's mouth dropped, "Three!?" Ash nodded and continued, "I killed two of them and the other one begged for his life so we made a deal, he got to live if he lead all of these humans away from here." Gary was amazed, "Wow Ash! I can't believe you killed two humans! We haven't even had combat training yet!" Ash grinned but then became serious, "I think my mom was kidnapped whilst I was fighting, she was in the kitchen when I got there but after the fight, she was gone and there were pots and pans everywhere." Gary looked scared, "You don't think-" "No I don't" Ash quickly cut him off, "I'm trying to find her now" Gary nodded, "Okay, lets go!" The two teens began to run towards the main source of the sounds, the school...

(At the school)

Ash and Gary pushed open the huge steel gate, once they were through, they could see that the courtyard was full of humans that were fighting aura users. Woman and children were cowering against the wall and the men were doing the best they could to protect them, it didn't look like they could keep it up for long. "Gary! We need to help those guys!" His long time friend nodded and they began to run towards the battlefield, out of the corner of his eye, Ash caught a glimpse of his mother. She was throwing aura spheres at a huge burly man, it didn't seem to be working..."Gary, my mom's in trouble, I'll be right back!" He shouted to the brunette, "I still don't like this idea but whatever, stay safe man!" He replied as they ran in separate directions.

Ash's eyes went wide, the man that was attacking his mother had brought up a huge hammer, he was going for a downward smash. Delia was frozen with fear, the teen sprinted as fast as he could and dived forwards, knocking his mother out of the way just in time. "Ash! Oh, thank goodness you're okay!" Ash looked her in the eye, "What happened to you?" He asked quickly, his mother began to explain, "Whilst you were fighting, that huge man over there picked me up and carried me away, he probably wanted to do horrible things with me. Otherwise I would have been killed on the spot." Ash felt anger well up inside him, nobody messes wit his family, he formed a sword and stood up. "Stay out of this mom, this guy's mine" He said as he walked towards the huge brute, his mother tried to stop him but he wouldn't let her.

Ash was now standing in front of his mother's attacker, "You humans really piss me off, you know that?" He didn't get a response, only the swing of a hammer, which he jumped upwards to dodge. Ash looked the man up and down, he was wearing heavy steel armour that had scratched and dents all over, his weak spots looked to be his neck, arm pits, back of the knees and the middle of his back. The brute started barrelling forward, attempting to squash Ash flat. He had to think of something, there was no way that he could trip this guy...An idea popped into his head, just as the knight reached him, the teen slid between his legs and stood up behind him. His weight prevented him from turning fast enough so the brute suffered a deep slash to his back, the human grunted in pain. He wasn't done yet though, he grabbed his hammer with two hands and swung it 180%. Ash dropped to the ground just in time, he felt the air from the hammer whip his hair up, he jumped up threw a rock at the human's masked face. The rock impacted with a clang and sent painful shock waves through the soldiers head, he dropped his hammer and put his hands on his head to try and stop the awful sensations. The next thing he felt was far worse, a stab to the neck. He gurgled on his own blood, "Well...fought..." He then fell to the ground with a huge crash, attracting the attention of most of the people nearby. Everything went silent, it was like the battle had been frozen, Ash heard one of the humans speak to another. "He just killed the captain...What do we do now?" "I don't know...Eliminate the threat!" They said darkly.

Most of the humans were now focused on trying to kill Ash, from every direction he was dodging sword slashes and mace swings. He suffered a few nasty gnashes and bruises, he ducked under yet another sword swing and was about to dodge another, when he tripped. "Got you now!" Shouted one of the soldiers as he brought the blade downwards, "Is this it? Am I going to die here?" Thought Ash, his question was answered almost immediately after it had been asked...

Ash saw her...His mother...With a relived smile on her face...And a blade through her chest. "A-A-Ash...L-Live o-on and be strong...I-I l-love you..." She whispered as her eyes closed and she collapsed to the side of him. Ash's eyes were wide, it was as if time had slowed down, he looked a his dead mother. Anger and hate but mostly grief were flowing out of him, "No...no...no no no no! This wasn't supposed to happen." He mumbled desperately, "You weren't supposed to die! he shouted as a blue mist enveloped his body and his eyes started to glow the same colour. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, I'LL SLAUGHTER EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!" He screamed madly. Ash formed two blue swords, one in each hand, he turned to the soldier that had killed his mother. He had a terrified look on his face, "A-A-Aura surge!" He shouted but was cut of by a blade tearing through his chest like paper, literally slicing him in half and sending blood everywhere. The nearby soldiers were trembling as Ash lunged at them with his blades crossed over each other in an X shape. He began to kill every human he saw, each with one slice...

(Hundreds of human deaths later)

The blue glow was still seeping out of Ash. He was covered in the blood of his enemies, all of which were now dead. He was just standing in the middle of the courtyard, motionless, whilst tightly gripping his two swords. Gary and his grandpa had seen everything, Ash's mother's death, Ash's anger and the aura surge...Everyone was now staring at Ash, who was standing over his mother's body, as if he was guarding it. He was glaring at seemingly nothing. Gary looked at his grandpa, "I need to try and calm him down, there aren't any enemies left, so he can't release the rest of his power. It's the only other way to end the aura surge." Gary's grandpa looked at him, "Gary, I know that Ash is your best friend...But there is no telling what he will do whilst going through an aura surge, he could kill you!" Gary frowned and looked back at Ash, the blueness hadn't stopped radiating from him. "Screw it..." He said to himself and walked in the raven haired teen's direction. "Gary! What are you doing!?" Called his grandfather, Gary didn't turn around, "Ending this..." He replied.

As Gary got closer, he could almost feel the emotions flowing out of Ash. He took one more step and froze as Ash's glowing blue eyes snapped up into his, he held up one of his swords in Gary's direction, "Stay away...Or I'll kill you..." He said menacingly, Gary was shocked, Ash would never say that to him. He attempted to reason with him, "Ash...It's me, Gary...I..Need you to calm down, okay?" He said soothingly as he held out his hands and slowly stepped forward, "I said stay back! Do you want to die!" Shouted Ash and he spun his swords and took a battle stance, Gary's eyes widened, Ash wasn't joking around. "Okay...Ooookaaaaayyy..." He said slowly, "I'm not gonna come any closer..." Gary took a few steps beck, Ash seemed to relax and went back to standing by his mother's body. A few seconds passed before Gary spoke again, "Don't you think we should bury her, we can't just leave her here..." Ash didn't say anything, only continued to stare, Gary didn't know what to do. Suddenly, Ash spoke three simple words, "She's not dead..." Gary felt sorry for him, "Ash...She took a sword to the chest, there was no way that she could of survived...Our powers don't heal us that fast..." It was true that aura users had extreme regenerative abilities, but they only worked if the person was still alive, and they took time to heal. Gary noticed that the blueness was beginning to fade, "She didn't deserve this...She was too kind...Too innocent..." Ash mumbled as he collapsed from exhaustion. Gary sighed in relief, Ash was back to normal, he looked over at Delia's body. "Goodbye...Mrs Ketchum, I'm sure Ash will miss you..." He said with a sad tone in his voice...

(The next day)

Ash slowly opened his eyes, the first thing that he noticed was that he wasn't in his house, he was in a huge tent. The next thing he noticed was that he was starving, he looked himself over, he had cuts and bruises all over his body. All of his injuries had cloth wrapped around them, somebody had tended to his wounds. He looked to his left and saw sunlight peeking in through the front flaps of the tent, "Better go and see what's going on..." He said to himself. The teen slowly rotated his legs over the side of the bed and put them on the ground, they ached like hell. With a grunt of effort, he stood up and got changed into a brown tunic with long sleeves and a pair of black trousers. He pulled on his black boots hand headed outside.

Ash walked outside and had to shield his eyes for a moment because of the brightness, but they soon adjusted and he took in his surroundings. All around him were tents and carts with horses on the front. They had set up the camp site in a big grassy clearing that was near the bottom of the valley and the river. Most of the people from the town were here, he saw Gary at the bottom of the hill, he was lifting a bucket up out of the river. Ash made his way over to him, on his way there, some people greeted him where as others expressed how amazed they were that he could defeat all of those humans. Not one person gave him a look of fear of disgust, because they all knew how friendly Ash was. when he got close to the brunette, Gary noticed him and dropped the bucket he was carrying. "Ash!" He ran over to his long time friend, "Hey buddy" Ash said casually, trying to forget everything that had happened, especially his mother's death. Gary looked relived to see him, "I'm glad you're back to normal, I had no idea that you were capable of having aura surges...Just like your old man." Ash nodded, although, he wasn't sure that it was something to be happy about. "So, um...Where's mom" He said with an upset tone, Gary nodded, "We were about to hold the funeral, we're going to bury her underneath the peach tree that grows at the bottom of the water fall. Are you coming?" Ash took a deep breath and then nodded, Gary put an arm around his friend's shoulder and they headed to the funeral...

(At the funeral)

After the speeches had been said, the coffin had been buried and the tears had been cried out, Ash and Gary were sitting on rock over looking the river. "Imagine what dad is gonna do when he finds out..." Said Ash, "It's all my fault, I wanted to protect her but I ended up making her save me instead. Dad's gonna slit my throat..." Gary felt awful to see his friend like this, Ash began to speak again, "Iv'e decided..." Gary raised a brow, "Decided what?" He asked curiously, "I'm going to go to the human kingdom, and kill the king!" Gary couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Kill the king!? I don't think that's as easy as it sounds!" He said, Ash continued staring into the river, "I heard from that soldier I spared that the king is forcing those humans to join his army, if they refuse, they and their families are killed." Gary's eyes widened again but he kept listening, "However, some of those bastards went along with it, he must be paying them, perhaps I can show everyone that aura users are not what the king has been filling their minds with" Gary nodded, he understood where ash was going with this, "What I'm saying is, I want to start an-" "Uprising" They both finished at the same time, "We could even try to get the scouts involved" Said Ash, Gary frowned, "It's true that the scouts are very good with stealth, and they have heightened senses like hearing and sight, but they don't really get involved with us since they suck at taking orders. Especially from another race...Plus we'd have to find them in their home, the forests of Celestia..." Gary noticed Ash's expression change at the word 'we'd', "Wait...Don't tell me your going to do this on your own..." Ash thought for a moment, "Sorry Gary...But I don't want to put another person that's close to me at risk, I don't want you to end up like mom..." Even though Gary wanted to protest, he understood where Ash was coming from.

After a while of thinking he sighed, "Okay...But you better come back alive other wise I'm gonna kill you!" He said jokingly, Ash rolled his eyes, "And make sure that no one finds out that you're an aura user, just in case they call the guards, get a cloak or dye your hair with mud or something." Ash nodded, "I need you to cover for me, the longer that people don't know where I am, the better."

(Later that night)

Ash pulled up the hood of his cloak and turned to face Gary, "Well, how do I look?" He asked as he flexed, Gary chuckled, "Like weird guy, but not an aura user, here take this" Gary said as he handed Ash a sword, it looked quite durable and was very sharp. "Remember, if you run into trouble, no aura, just your sword." "Yeah yeah" Ash said as he waved him off, he looked at himself in the mirror. Ash was wearing a black cloak that ended at his ankles with a black linen shirt and black cotton pants, he also had a pair of black boots and a belt that held his sword. It was hidden from view by his cloak. He walked over and picked up his brown knapsack which he then swung over his shoulders and made sure it was firm. "Okay...I'm ready to go." He said to Gary who nodded and they both walked outside to where a horse was waiting for Ash. The teen climbed up over the side and looked down at his best friend, "The next time you see me, the king will be dead and this war will be over!" He said confidently, Gary rolled his eyes, "Just don't do anything stupid, okay?" Ash nodded, "Until next time buddy" He said as he dug his heels into the horse's sides, making it take off into a gallop. Gary watched his best friend ride away, "Until next time Ash..." He was about to walk into the tent when an idea popped into his head, "Does that mean that I get to have his gem collection whilst he's gone?" He said with a goofy laugh.

(On the trail to the human kingdom)

_This is it! This is where history will be made!_ "Human kingdom, here I come!" Shouted the over excited teen as he rode deeper into the night, towards his destination...


	2. Chapter 2

**welcome to chapter 2! Please don't forget to review!**

(Early one morning)

Ash was having a blast, he had been on his journey for a few days now and it was going really well. Although, he wasn't doing a very good job of sticking to Gary's 'don't do anything stupid' rule, he had already dived off a water fall and punched a goblin in the face because he wasn't giving him a good deal for the bear skin he had. Ash had also gotten a lot better at sword fighting, he had stopped in the forest to camp on the first day of his journey and had started practising on some trees, that's when the bear showed up. Ash could have easily used aura since there wasn't anybody around, but instead he decided to put his skills to the test. It turns out that he wasn't the best of the best since he suffered a few scratches, but they quickly healed. Another thing Ash loved to do was ride his horse, he had only just realised that Gary had given him the fastest one, it was dark brown and quite slim. Ash had named it chestnut because of the colour. It was fun to ride his horse since he wasn't able to do it on the mountain trails because they were too narrow and dangerous, but down here, it was all fields and forests so he could ride at full speed.

Ash and chestnut broke through the last of the bushes into a grassy field, "Woo hoo!" Shouted Ash as his horse jumped over a log, "This is awesome! Gah!" He cursed as he bit his tongue, the pain only lasted for a moment and then faded as the wound healed. He steered his horse so that it was running down a shallow hill, "Woooooooo! Hahahahaha!" Suddenly, he heard a girl's voice from behind him, "I see you like to ride!?" She shouted as she rode her horse up next to Ash's, her mount was pure white with a few grey patches. The girl herself had big purple hair that was tied up in ponytails, dark skin, brown eyes and was wearing a yellow blouse with white cotton shorts and a pair of white boots. Ash slowed his horse to a stop and so did she, "Hi, I'm Iris!" She said as she held out a hand, Ash thought for a moment, this was his first proper talk with a human. He knew what they were like, first impressions were everything, he slowly extended his hand and shook hers, "I'm...Ash" He said awkwardly, but he noticed that Iris was looking at his horse with sparkles in her eyes, "Ahhhh, It's so amazing...I wish I had one of those!" Ash rolled his eyes, typical for a human, they always wanted something better than what they already have...

(1 hour later)

Ash yawned, he was beginning to get bored, Iris had challenged him to countless races and had lost all of them...She sighed, "Okay...How much?" Ash raised a brow, "For what?" He asked curiously, Iris looked at him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Well your obviously not going to sell a horse as good as that one but...How much do I have to pay for him to...I dunno...Make a few babies with one of my females? My family owns a ranch and we need speedy horses for the army." Ash frowned, he wasn't going to give the human army any help at all. "Sorry, I'm on a journey and I don't wana waste time waiting for my horse to do a quickie" Iris looked like she had been shot, "But they would make so much money!" She shouted desperately, Ash glared at her, "I don't care about money, I said no!" He walked over to his mount and climbed up on top, "Thanks for the races, it was a 'pleasure'" He said, emphasizing the last word, "But I need to move on, my journey awaits!" Iris rolled her eyes, "You talk like an old man, at least tell me where you're going" Ash thought for a moment, "I'm going to a place where I could make history" Iris had a confused look on her face, but before she could ask any more questions, Ash kicked the horse's sides and took off at a very fast speed.

(3 hours later)

Ash tied chestnut's reins to a tree and looked around, this looked like a good spot to camp, it was a grassy clearing at the edge of forest. There was a large river separating him from the from the forest and on the other side of Ash was a wide open field that had knee high wheat growing in it, he spotted a few cattle here and there. The place that he planed to set up camp was hidden from the wide open field by a small hill, so he wouldn't be spotted by any bandits or patrols. No threats were in sight. He set up his tent, got some water from the river for chestnut, and began to make a fire for the night.

(Half an hour later)

The sun had set behind the horizon and the temperature was dropping fast. Even though Ash was sat in front of a fire, it didn't help to wam him up much...Suddenly, he heard a voice, it came from the other side of the hill. He quickly doused his fire, grabbed his sword and crouched down low in the wheat. Ash began to crouch walk around the left side of the hill, it was a good idea to set his camp up there after all...Then he remembered something, Chestnut was tied to a tree that wasn't behind the hill, it was near the right hand side of it! Ash quietly cursed and continued to move silently. There was almost no light, since the moon was being blocked out by the clouds, but Ash did manage to spot to dark figures moving through the field. They were either not trying to be sneaky, or were just plain stupid, since the were upright and walking carelessly. Ash could tell from their voices that they were teens, on was a male and the other was a female, they both sounded like they were younger than Ash. "What's a horse doing out here?" Said the boy, "Maybe someone is taking a bath or drinking from the river" Said the girl, "Who would wana take a bath in a freezing cold river, Plus, there could be swamp creepers..." Said the boy anxiously, swamp creepers were weird fish like eels that lived in the murky waters of the marsh kingdom, although, they could be found elsewhere in muddy rivers and ponds. Many careless swimmers had lost their lives to them...

(20 minutes later)

Ash began to sneak towards the girl since she was farther back, she was about to speak but Ash grabbed her, he put a hand over her moth to silence her scream and his sword to her neck to stop her from thrashing around. "Shhh, It's okay...I'm not going to hurt you...I just want to make sure that you're not a threat." The girl seemed to calm down slightly, Ash too in her features, she was an inch or two shorter than him, had amber coloured eyes, brown hair that went down to her shoulders and a cute looking face. Her eyes were full of fear, but at the same time curiosity, she couldn't see Ash's face which meant that she didn't know what race he was. She was always interested in meeting new races. The boy hadn't heard the scrap and continued to speak normally, "Where do you think this horse came from Kate?" Ash looked at the girl, she was looking directly back at him. When the boy didn't get a reply, he turned around, "Kate-" As soon as he spotted the two of them, he pulled out his sword and took a battle stance, "What the hell are you doing! Get away from Kate you bastard!" Ash did nothing, only removed his hand from Kate's mouth, "Wait Carl! He only wanted to see if we were a threat!" Ash was surprised that she had defended him that fast, "I said let her go you piece of shit!" Ash spoke sternly, "Throw away your weapon, then I'll let her go" Carl gripped his blade tighter, "Let her go first!" Ash sighed, "I don't think that you understand the position you're in, I have something precious" Kate looked at Ash, her tiny blush was hidden by the darkness, "And you have a lifeless blade, I'm offering you a girl's life, in exchange for you throwing that lifeless blade away. Pretty good deal right?" Ash's voice became dark and menacing, "Or, you could always refuse my demands and 'cut' her life short..." He said, putting emphasis on the single word. Carl growled, "I said let her go now!" Kate's eyes went wide, "Uh oh! You better do what he says or this could end up bad!" She said frantically, Ash raised a brow, he was confused by her sudden change of mind.

The sight of Kate not being released broke Carl, runes all over his body suddenly started glowing red, as well as his eyes. Ash's eyes went wide, he was a berserker! Carl lunged forward and tried to slash Ash, he dived out of the way, pulling Kate with him, "That idiot! If I had been a real bandit, you would be dead by now!" He said to Kate, "Go and find cover, now!" Kate was about to speak but he cut her off, "Don't worry, I won't kill him" The girl nodded ad ran over the tree where chestnut was.

Ash pulled out his sword and looked at his opponent, he had gone completely mad. Ash knew about berserkers, they had an ability that was much like aura surge. It increased the users strength and speed, as well as giving the user no fear. If a berserker took any damage during the course of their ability, then they would only feel the pain and exhaustion once the ability has ended. Aura surge was slightly different, it increased the power of ones aura as well as strength and speed. Aura surge only ended when the user was either satisfied, calmed down or dead, berserk had a time limit. Berserkers were a race that was devoted to peace and tranquillity, they never engaged in wars and had very little contact with other races to avoid anger or grudges being held against them. Ash was disappointed at how Carl had so little control over his power. A swipe from said person's sword brought Ash out of his thoughts, "I'M GONNA TEAR YOU TO PIECES GAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!" He bellowed as he charged at Ash, the raven haired teen blocked his downward slash and kneed him in the crotch, he then kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying to the ground with a heavy thud. "Sorry pal, I'm okay with staying as one" As said casually.

(1 hour later)

Ash felt like he had been fighting for ages, he had managed to deal some decent damage to Carl, but had taken hits in return. He had a slash going from the top of his right shoulder diagonally down his chest and a slash on his calf. Both of his injuries were leaking blood. On the bright side, Carl's berserk was beginning to wear off, the red glow was almost gone...one more hit should do it...Carl was panting, he began to run towards ash, going in for a right side sweep. The raven haired teen brought up his blade and parried the attack, he then head butted Carl in the face and swiped him off his feet with his leg. Carl thumped onto the ground ad fainted, the red glow faded, Ash had won...

The raven haired teen fell onto his rear, he was panting and sweating, which didn't help since the salty sweat made his cuts sting. Kate, who had seen everything, ran over to check her companion. Once she was satisfied that he was okay, she ran over to Ash with a mug of fresh water, Ash took it and nodded in thanks, he was too thirsty to talk. He gulped the whole mug down in one go, "Gah! *pant pant* That's better!" He noticed that Kate was staring intently at him, "What?" He made her jump slightly, "U-U-Um...Well, I just thought that you might be confused as to why two berserkers are in the unowned lands..." Ash shrugged, "Not really" "Do you want to know?" Ash smirked, "Not really..." Kate giggled, "Okay, I'll tell you. We were originally in the human kingdom, but we left since things are different now..." Ash raised a brow as Kate continued to explain, "There are guards and patrols literally everywhere, order is very strict, if you step out of line even once, you are either executed or severely punished. The king says it's because he doesn't want spies or assassins getting into the kingdom, he even set up road blocks at the wall entrances. Although, it's still easy to get in, all you need to do is grease a few palms, if you know what I mean." She said with a wink, Ash nodded, "So basically, there are corrupt laws and selfish guards everywhere and all you need to get into the kingdom is money, no matter what race you are." Kate nodded, "Basically"

(10 Minutes later)

Ash was sitting on a log in front of the fire again, only this time, he had company. Carl was slumping over by the tree, still embarrassed about his defeat, and Kate was tending to Ash's wounds. For some reason, she had bee extremely enthusiastic about doing it, the fifteen year old had blushed like crazy when Ash had taken off his cloak and removed his shirt. She often found herself drooling whenever she looked at his face or chest, she couldn't tear her eyes away for a second. "T-Thanks f-for not k-killing my b-brother..." She stuttered nervously, she was currently on her knees in front of him, rubbing his chest. A scarlet blush would have been visible on her face if it was daytime, but it wasn't, and she was thankful for that. "He's your brother?" She nodded, Ash scoffed, "No offence, but he's extremely stupid" Kate giggled, "I know, but hem means well, even if he can't control himself..." Ash smiled, "He's lucky to have a mature girl like you around" Ash said kindly, his eyes made contact with hers, she quickly darted hers away. The teen girl could have squealed, this guy was such a dream boat! But then a question popped into her head, she looked back at Ash, who was now looking up into the sky and studying the stars. "Um Ash?" She had learned his name earlier when they had first sat down. The raven haired teen looked at her, "Yeah?" He asked curiously, "What race are you?" Ash's eyes went wide...

(The next morning)

Ash bit down on a piece of bread that he was holding, it wasn't exactly a proper breakfast, but it worked. He needed to find a town soon, his supplies were running low, he looked around the log circle. Kate still didn't look satisfied with the answer he gave her last night, 'It's better if you don't know...', Carl had come over and sat opposite Ash. The raven haired teen would sometimes catch him staring at him out of the corner of his eye. Ash finished his bread and stood up, "Well...It's been nice meeting you folks, but Iv'e gotta go." He said as he dusted his hands and grabbed his knapsack, the teen then began to walk over to his horse. He heard Kate speak up, "What! But you can't go! There's still so much I want to ask!" Ash pulled up his hood, "I'm sorry, I must have forgotten about that contract I signed that stated that I needed to tell you everything about me." Ash noticed that Carl had stood up, "Your name is Ash, right?" Said person raised a brow, "So you finally talk..." Carl looked at the ground, "I was wondering if you could-" "Train you?" Carl nodded, a smirk appeared on Ash's face, "Well, get ready for this because it's going to destroy your pride, Iv'e only been training with a sword for five days. Not even a week!" Carl's and Kate's mouths dropped, "R-Really...?" Ash nodded whilst climbing onto Chestnut, Carl and Kate were beside him now. "Can't we come with you?" Begged Carl, "No!" The siblings were taken back by his quick outburst, "Why not?" Ash sighed, "Because...The last time that I had someone with me...They died in my stead." He said as his face shaded over, Kate felt sorry for him, whereas Carl became more curios. "Who was it?" Kate cut him off, "Carl, that's enough..." She could see that this was hard on Ash, the teen nodded at her in thanks. He kicked Chestnut's side and the horse began to trot away, but he stopped and turned, "Oh yeah, about what race I am...Keep this a secret..." He looked directly in to their eyes as his began to glow blue, they both froze, "I'm an aura user...Take care you two." Before they could say anything else, he rode away.

(1 Hour later)

Ash was sitting on Chestnut as he walked along the dirt road, the weather was nice and there was no need to rush, he was whistling one of his favourite tunes that he had heard in his town. He could barely remember the words. It was something about a group of nobles that were having a dinner, but whilst they were eating, bandits broke in and held them up. They apparently requested their lives in return for a good meal with the intruders and it all turned out fine...Ash saw a sign on the edge of the road up ahead. As he got closer, he could see the black letters, 'Evergreen town' The teen shrugged, he decided that he would get his supplies from this town and sped up Chestnut slightly.

(10 minutes later)

The town was surrounded by evergreen trees in every direction, the townsfolk probably got their main source of income and food from hunting in the forest. Nature and civilisation looked to be in perfect harmony, plants were growing on the buildings, but not overgrowing. As Ash rode into the town nobody gave him a second glance, travellers were common here, and there were many different types. Ash would be considered one of the more normal ones...The raven haired teen spotted a market that was taking place in the town centre, this piqued his interest, he steered Chestnut towards the market stalls.

Ash tied Chestnut to one of the hitches in the stables and walked towards one of the stalls, standing behind the counter, was a young woman with blond hair and grey eyes. She smiled as Ash came over, "Hello sir! May I interest you in some of our wares?" Ash smiled back at her, "Hello ma'am, And yes, what's for sale?" The woman nodded and opened a roll of leather, the first thing that caught Ash's eye was a blue sword, its hilt was black and shaped like wings that went up the sword. The end of its hilt was a golden eagle's head. The blade itself was slightly longer than his, about a metre, and looked extremely sharp. It almost looked like it was glowing pure blue. The woman chuckled, "I call that one eagle's grace, it's nice huh?" Ash simply nodded, "Can I try it out?" The woman smiled, "Of course" Just as Ash was about to pick up the sword, a loud voice boomed out over the market, "Is that all! Can anyone beat our champion in a sword battle?! An idea popped into the woman's head, "Hey, tell you what, how about we make a deal?" Ash raised a brow, "If you defeat that guy using one of my swords, you can have the eagle's grace, free of charge!" Ash's mouth dropped, "Seriously!" The woman giggled and nodded, "Yep! I need to get some more customers, and I could tell that you were strong since you knew that this was a good sword." Ash grinned, "Okay, I'll do it, but don't expect miracles!" He joked teasingly, "I can guess which one your going to use" Ash nodded, she handed over the eagle's grace. As soon as Ash touched the sword, he felt an overwhelming power spread throughout his body, he felt stronger and faster. He was ready for the battle...

The announcer looked at the crowd, most of them seemed too intimidated to face the giant muscle man that was standing next to him, his huge broad sword didn't help to draw in challengers. "Are there any other brave fighters among this crowd? Who fancies winning a prize of thirty gold pieces? A very large amount for a very small fight, what do you say?" Nobody raised their hand, "Any one else?! No!?" Suddenly, he saw a cloaked figure ,that was leaning against a tree, raise his hand. "I could use some money..." He said casually, The man grinned, "We have a challenger!"

Ash looked his opponent over, he could tell from his build that he was a brute. Brutes were a race of very strong humanoids, they had larger torsos than humans and thinner lower bodies. They were strong, but were clumsy and slow, also not very smart. Their main purpose in battle was to take all the hits until their opponent was too tired to even dodge, and then strike. They had very thick skin that could resist sword slashes, the easiest way to beat them was to use speed and chip away at them with blunt attacks. Ash held out his sword, the brute grunted, "I am Omar the unbeatable!" Ash smirked, "Not for much longer..." The crowd went wild, they could already tell that this was going to be a good fight.

Omar made the first attack by stomping forward and swinging his broad sword in a circle, Ash hit the dirt and dodged the swing, he then jumped forwards and smashed the hilt of the eagle's grace into Omar's nose. The brute roared in pain as he staggered backwards, holding his injury, Ash could tell that his nose was broken. Omar growled and went for a downward strike, Ash rolled to the left, grabbing a handful of dirt. Once he was back on his feet, he threw the dirt into Omar's face, "GGGGAARRRGGHHHH!" He bellowed in pain, the brute began to swing his sword in random directions, preventing Ash from getting close. As soon as he could see slightly better, he recklessly charged towards Ash, still swinging his sword. An idea popped into Ash's head, he stood in front of a huge tree trunk and waited...As soon as Omar was close enough, he dived to the right, making Omar miss his target and slam into the tree, causing vibrations to ripple through the tree and dislodge a few leaves. The brute was slowly pulling himself up, when a fist impacted with his face and knocked him out cold. Ash stood back up and raised his fist in victory, the crowed roared in applause. All the men and women cheered and all the girls squealed, the announcer couldn't believe what he had seen, Omar had never been beaten before. The man smiled, "Give it up for the challenger!" The crowd went wild, clapping and cheering, "Tell me stranger" Said the man, "What's your tactic?" Ash saw the blond haired woman raise her head out of the corner of his eye, he grinned, "My sword gives me confidence and skill" The crowd began they're barrage of questions, the main on being, 'where did you get it!' Ash smiled and pointed at the blond haired woman, who had the brightest smile on her face, the raven haired teen said one simple word. "Her"

(Thousands of sword sales later)

The blond haired merchant couldn't believe what had happened, her entire stock had been sold, she was loaded with gold pieces! She turned to Ash with tears in her eyes, the woman launched herself at him and brought him into a tight embrace, "Thank you so much!" Ash chuckled and patted her back, "No problem, thanks for the sword!" The woman broke away from the embrace and looked Ash in the eye, "If you ever need anything, go to the human kingdom. You know the capital, Petalburg city right?" Ash nodded, "Well, look for a place called the sleeping hydra, my family owns it and you will always be welcome there. Just say 'the serpent swims' They'll understand." Ash nodded, "Once again, thanks." The woman smiled, she climbed up onto her cart, "Are you sure you're gonna be okay? That's alot of money on there, you know what happens to people with a lot of money on the roads..." The woman waved him off, "I'll be fine, I know some water magic, it runs in my family." Ash raised a brow, "That's rare for a human..." She giggled, "I guess I'm just special..." Ash smiled, "Oh, I didn't catch your name..." The woman chuckled, "I was wondering when you would ask, I'm Cynthia brook." She held out her hand, Ash shook it, "Ash Ketchum." "It was nice meeting you Ash, I hope we see you at our inn soon." Ash nodded, "I'll be there soon, That's where my journey will take me anyway" Cynthia raised her brow, "Really? Would you like to travel there together?" Ash fidgeted uncomfortably, "Uh...I have to make a few stops along the way first, I don't wana slow you down..." Cynthia looked slightly sad but nodded, "Okay, I'll see you soon!" She flicked the reins, making her horse trot forwards, grunting in complaint about the weight of the cart. "See you soon!" Shouted Ash as he waved to his new found friend, she smiled and waved, as soon as she disappeared over the horizon he smiled. "I'm gonna need friends if this is gonna work..."

(2 hours later)

The sun was high in the sky, the temperature was hot and there was a cool breeze, perfect travelling conditions. Ash had restocked his supplies, this time, with some better food. He climbed up onto Chestnut and raised his fist into the air, "Let's go buddy!" His mount reared up and announced its departure, it then began to gallop out of the town. "Woo hoo!" Shouted Ash, next stop, the human kingdom!

(1 hour later)

"Woooooaaaaahhhhhh" Said Ash breathlessly as he looked at the huge wall in front of him, it had to be about thirty metres tall! It leaded off to each side as far as the eye could see, Ash noticed the huge iron gate that provided one of the four entrances to the kingdom, North, South, East and West. There weren't many guards, but still enough to stop an attack, about fifteen. They were currently checking a merchant's cart and questioning the man himself about where he came from. Ash didn't want to end up like that guy, an idea popped into his head, he grabbed a decent sized rock off of the ground. He then leaded Chestnut over to the edge of the trees that they were hiding in, taking a careful aim, he launched the rock at one of the guards. It impacted with his head, instantly knocking him out and getting the attention of all the other guards. They all ran over to check if he was still breathing, whilst they were distracted, Ash rode Chestnut through the gate and into the human kingdom. "Idiots..." Ash said to himself as he rolled his eyes, he took in his surroundings. Even though the human kingdom had a huge wall that was around the edge, there was still tonnes of room inside, you could literally ride a horse from one wall for two weeks and still not get to the other side. The human kingdom was absolutely humongous, and it had many different races and locations inside...To get to Petalburg city, where the palace was located, it would take about three days. Ash patted Chestnut's neck, "Hope your up for a lot of walking, buddy" As if understanding, his horse grunted.

(6 hours later)

Chestnut was drinking deeply from the crystal clear river that was flowing past the place where Ash was camping for the night. "Well done bud! If we keep this up, we'll get there in no time!" Ash said as he lit the camp fire, he heard a splash come from the river, he turned in the direction of the sound and noticed that there were several fish jumping around in the river. "Oh yeah!" He cheered as he grabbed a sharp stick, the raven haired teen pulled off his shirt and cloak, as well as his trousers and dived in. "Fish fish fish fish!" He cheered as he began to collect several of them on his makeshift spear. He laughed as they swam around his feet, it tickled like hell. "Hahahah, oh man, Chestnut! You gotta try this bud!" The teen's horse simply raised its head and looked at him, after flicking its ear, it went back to drinking. Ash rolled his eyes, "Killjoy..."

(20 minutes later)

The teen and his mount were laying on the bank of the river, Chestnut was already asleep, but Ash was looking at the stars. They looked different in the human kingdom, less beautiful..."I wonder how Gary's doing..." He said to no one in particular, "I kinda just up and left him, I hope that no one's found out where I've am yet..." Ash burped, he was still full from all of the fish he ate, he took out his new sword and looked at it. It was kinda funny to think that this sword, would be the one that he would use to bring down the king...Ash felt his eyelids beginning to drop so he put his sword down and crawled into his tent.

The raven haired teen slowly opened his eyes, he could see from the exit of his tent, that it was a perfect day outside. He slowly pulled himself out and put on his clothes, after strapping his sword to his belt he looked for his mount. Chestnut was eating some blueberries that were on a bush near his tent, Ash decided to go down to the river to freshen up.

Once Ash had made it to the river, he stripped and dived in, he instantly felt the cool water was over his body. All of his cut and bruises felt better, and the smell of stale sweat disappeared.

(10 minutes later)

Ash was fully packed and ready to go, he climbed onto Chestnut and they both set off.

(A few days of travelling later)

Ash ginned as he made it to Petalburg city, he could see the palace already, it was huge! The buildings on the outside of the city were kind of run down and old, but as you went further in, the quality went up. Ash had decided to look for the sleeping hydra like Cynthia said. But this city was huge, how was he meant to find one building! The teen looked around, there were market stalls and shops every where, this place was a goldmine for thieves and pickpockets. Ash reminded himself to keep an eye on his coin pouch, even though he didn't care for money, he still needed it to survive. A young woman's voice brought him out of his thoughts, "Ash? Ash! Is that you?" It was Cynthia! He looked to his left and saw her waving at him, he waited for a gap in the crowd and then rode over to her. "Hey Cynthia! Good to see you again!" Ash said happily, the woman nodded with a smile on her face, "It's good to see you too Ash, but let's go somewhere more comfortable to talk." Ash nodded and followed her on Chestnut.

The two friends rounded a corner and came into the view of a large in that had been painted different shades of blue, the sign on the side of the building read 'The sleeping hydra' Ash smiled, "So this is where it was!" Cynthia chuckled, "It was kind of silly for me to expect you to find it by yourself in a city this big, so I've been going to the city's entrance since I got here to wait for you." Ash raised a brow, "Everyday?" She nodded, "For how long?" "Sunrise till sunset" Ash's eyes went wide, "You didn't have to do that you know!" Cynthia giggled, "It's okay, I didn't have much else to do except look after my annoying little brothers." Ash became confused, "You have brothers?" Cynthia nodded, "Their names are Finn and Tony, they can be a pain in the backside at times, but really sweat at others."Ash chuckled, "Sounds like you care a lot for them." Cynthia smiled, "I do"

Once Ash had tied Chestnut up in the stables, he entered the inn with Cynthia, he was met with a smell that reminded him of his mother's cooking. He became slightly sad, Cynthia noticed his drop in mood, "Ash, are you Okay?" The teen shook away the sad thoughts, "Yeah...I'm fine" He was interrupted by two little voices, "Ooooohhhh, Cynthy's got a boyfriend!" "Eeeeewwwwww" A blush appeared on Cynthia's face but it quickly turned to anger, "Finn, Tony! Get back her now!" She said as she ran towards the two blonde haired boys, the one on the left screamed, "Ahhh, run Finn, the ogres' coming!" "Ahhhh!" The two of them ran upstairs, "I'll be back down in a minute Ash, you should meet my grandparents, I think they're in the kitchen!" Cynthia shouted to Ash as she ran after her brothers. Ash chuckled and walked towards the kitchen's door, just as he was about to grab the door handle, it swung open and smacked him in the face. The force sent Ash to the ground like a sack of potatoes, "Ouch..." He said as he rubbed his head, an old short man walked out of the kitchen, he was carrying several trays of food. "Cynthia, Finn, Tony! Dinners re-" When he saw Ash on the floor he quickly put the food down and helped him up, "Oh my god! I'm terribly sorry my boy! I-I-I-I had no idea that you were there!" Ash smirked, "It's okay sir, I'm fine." The man sighed and put a hand on his forehead, "Not again..." What must have been his wife walked out of the kitchen and saw her husband's gesture, "Oh my goodness! Are you okay honey!" Ash chuckled, "I'm fine! Honestly" The woman smiled, "I'm greatly sorry about my husband, he has a habit if hitting people with doors!" She said as she flicked his ear as punishment, he grunted in pain. The woman continued to speak, "You must be Ash, It's very nice to meet you, I'm Carolina and this is my husband Edger." Ash shook both of their hands, "We heard that you helped out our granddaughter a lot, we are very grateful, if you ever need anything. Just ask." Ash nodded in thanks.

(4 hours later)

Cynthia's grandparents had be happy to give Ash a room for the night as well as free food and a warm bath, only tonight, he wouldn't be using the bedroom...

Ash heard a knock at his door, "Ash? Can I come in?" It was Cynthia, the teen pulled up his hood and turned to face the door, "Yeah! Come on in." The blonde haired woman pushed open the door and became confused when she saw that Ash was dressed in his normal clothes. "Huh? Are you going somewhere?" Ash nodded, "I have some business to attend to..." Cynthia was still confused, "Where are you going? When will you be back?" Ash looked at the ground, "Weeellllll, the truth is...I don't know if I'll be coming back..." Cynthia's eyes went wide, "Then why are you going!?" Ash looked her directly in the eye, for the first time, he pulled down his hood in front of her. She blushed when she saw his face, he was quite handsome, his face looked very serious. "This is something that I have to do, It's my whole reason for coming here..." Cynthia was about to ask but he answered for her, "I'm sure that you're aware of the war between aura users and humans right?" He said as he walked over to the window, he could see the lights of the palace from here. "Y-Yeah..." Ash opened the window and sat on the ledge, with his leg hanging out, "Well, you see, I'm her to kill the king. I'm an aura user." He said as he looked at her with a glowing blue body and bight blue eyes. Cynthia's breath hitched, she didn't care much for the king, the thing that surprised her most was the fact that her friend was part of an extremely rare race. "Y-Your an aura user...Wow" She said breathlessly with a smile on her face, Ash grinned, "Surprise!" He said jokingly, "So, how are you going to do it?" Ash raised a brow, "Your not going to stop me?" Cynthia laughed, "Are you kidding? The king is a selfish bastard who needs to be eradicated, plus, your my friend. As long as you think it's right, then so will I." Ash nodded in thanks, "Well, I'm planning to sneak in through the roof. I used to live in the mountains, so I'm good at climbing. There aren't many guards up there, so it should be easy to sneak in." Cynthia nodded, "Sounds like a good plan...But I would wait until past midnight, that's when most of the staff and nobles will be asleep, it's also when the least amount of guards are active." Ash's smile widened, "we think alike"

(2 Hours later)

Ash looked at the moon, it was more than halfway across the sky, time to move. He turned to Cynthia, who had fallen asleep not long ago, he prodded he a few times. "Hey, Cynthia, I'm going out." She groggily opened her eyes, "Wha...Is it that time already, *yawn*" Ash chuckled, "I'll be back soon." The blonde haired woman nodded, "Okay...Be careful.." She said as she dozed off again, Ash smiled, "Glad to see that your worried about your friend..." The teen jogged over to the window sill and swung himself over, he the jumped to the roof of the next building and made his way towards the palace.

(10 minutes later)

Ash was silently climbing up the wall of the palace, there were several holes for him to grab onto so it was quite easy. Once he reached the top, he took a peak over the edge, there were two guards. They were both facing away from him, perfect, he could slip in and not have to worry about hiding any bodies. Ash climbed up over the wall and sneaked over to the window, he opened it slowly and slipped in, although he knocked a cup off of the coffee table as he did. The cup hit the ground and smashed to pieces, one of the guards heard it, "Hey, what was that?" "Ah, it was probably on of those new servant girls messin' around, leave it..." Replied the other, they both went back to their posts. Ash sighed in relief, the job of being inside the palace and seeing no action had made the guards soft, they were naive. Ash stayed crouched in the dark hallway, lit by moonlight, he looked left and right. To the right was a door and a staircase leading down, to the left was a staircase heading up. Ash guessed that the king would have the highest room in the palace, he began to move silently, like a phantom, down the hallway.

The staircase winded, it was long and narrow, did a king really live up here. He was thinking of turning back, but then he reached a door, from underneath he could see candlelight. He heard voices on the other side, he put his ear to the door and listened, "Poor you...Your whole family as murdered in front of you and now you get to rot away in this tower, hahahaha, this is great! But unfortunately, I have to leave you my darling, I'll be back tomorrow..." Ash's eyes widened as he heard the footsteps heading towards the door, he quickly looked for a place to hide and spotted a small dent in the wall. If he pulled his cloak over himself he shouldn't get spotted. He did exactly that just as the door opened, it was a boy about Ash's age with green hair and green eyes, Ash could tell from his clothes that he was a noble. A prince maybe? He had a cocky smile on his face, the raven haired teen noticed that he was locking the door with a set of keys, Ash had to time this right...As soon as the prince turned and put the keys on his belt, he grabbed them and let the prince walk away, the keys were pulled off of his belt without him noticing. Ash silently cheered, once the prince as completely out of sight and Ash couldn't hear his footsteps any more, he unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open.

As the door slowly opened, Ash noticed that there were jail cells lined up along the wall of the tower, all of them were empty. Except for one that contained a girl the same age as him. She had brown hair, sapphire blue eyes and a nice figure, she was wearing a ragged brown dress. She hadn't noticed that the door had been opened, Ash could see lines of pure silver that went down her face, was she crying? Ash sneaked in and closed the door, this time she heard it, but she couldn't see anything since only her jail cell was lit by moonlight and the prince had taken the candle with him. "H-Hello...Is anyone t-there?" She stuttered, feeling scared, a voice that she hadn't heard before spoke. "Who are you?" She felt slightly relieved, the voice didn't sound menacing, it had a feeling of safety. "I-I'm M-May Maple, I-I'm the princess of the human kingdom..." Ash raised a brow, "Then why are you in jail?" He asked curiously, "The current king murdered my father and took over, he killed my mother and my brother as well..." She said as she started to tear up, "The only reason that I was kept alive was because...*sniff*...His son liked the 'look' of me..." She broke down into tears, "So he's the one who has been causing all of this?" May stopped crying slightly, "All of what?" Ash became confused, "Don't you know about the war between aura users and humans?" May's eyes went wide and she shook her head, "No! What happened!?" Ash sighed, "It's a long story, but basically, aura users are being exterminated for some unknown reason..." May became curious, "And why are you here?" Ash thought for a moment but decided that it couldn't hurt to tell this girl.

"I'm here to kill the king..." May's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped as she saw two glowing blue eyes light up in the darkness, "I'm an aura user, and I'm here to stop this war..."

**Thank you for reading! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I hope you had fun reading it! I included a few characters from the actual anime.**

***Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon, but if I did, Ash would be more badass, win more battles, get cooler pokemon and have some romance!***

**Please don't forget to review, it helps me a lot and I like to see what you guys think of my stories. So, until next time!**

**-Killerham5ter**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome to chapter three! I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to review!**

(In the castle tower, approximately 2 o'clock in the morning)

Ash unlocked the iron gate of May's cell and released her, "Okay your highness, I'm gonna get you out of here. But first, there's something that I need to do..." May still couldn't see her saviour since it was so dark, the only things she could see were his glowing eyes, she nodded. "Kill the king, right?" "Yeah" Ash replied as he headed towards the door.

The raven haired teen took a peak around the corner at the bottom of the staircase, there were two guards standing by the window, they were inspecting the cup that he had knocked over earlier. Ash cursed quietly, "Okay, stay here...I'm gonna take those two out." May nodded, the aura user sneaked around the corner and stuck to the shadows. Once he was close enough, he slammed the end of his sword's hilt into the back of on of the guards heads. He then grabbed the other one and put his sword to his neck, "Where's the king! Tell me, if you value your life!" The guard looked terrified, "H-He's d-down the hallway t-to the l-left" Ash grinned, "Thanks..." The teen brought down the guard's head on his knee, knocking him out cold. May walked over to him with wide eyes, he rubbed the back of his head wit a goofy smile, "Sorry you had to see that..." May shook her head, "No it's okay, you did what was necessary" The two teens began to move down the hall, towards the highly decorated door. Once they were close enough, Ash put his ear to the door, there was no sound coming from inside. "The king must be asleep..." He whispered to May, "Let's just get it over with..." She replied, Ash nodded and slowly pushed open the door. Once it was open wide enough, he sneaked inside, followed by May.

The two teens could see that the king was sleeping soundly in his bed, Ash sighed, "Time to end this..." The raven haired teen sneaked over and raised his sword, meanwhile, May was looking around for something. Ash aimed the tip of the blade at the man's head, "So long pal" He whispered as he drove the blade into the king's skull, killing him instantly. Ash let out a sigh of relief as he sheathed his weapon, he noticed that May had lit a candle and was reading a piece of paper, she had a worried look on her face. "What is it May?" She looked at him, "You should take a look at this..." Ash raised a brow and took the paper from her, he began to read the fancy writing. "To my comrade in arms, King Fletcher. I am sending you this letter to confirm that you have the contract for our agreement to unite for world domination. I have sent this letter to the other three kings as well, keep the contract on your person at all times! There will no doubt be thieves and assassins that will try to steal it from you. If the information goes public, then it will be all over, it may even lead to an uprising. With your safety in mind, Lord Sheila." Ash was confused, "So, what this is trying to say, is that we need to kill the people who are involved in this scheme to be able to stop this war?" May nodded, "And get the contracts so that we can prove that these people intended to take over." Ash looked at the paper again, "Who's Lord Shelia?" May shrugged, "But by the looks of it, she's the mastermind behind all of this..." Before the two could say any more, a made walked into the room, "Shit..." Said Ash, The woman saw the bloody corpse of the king and screamed, her scream alerted the whole palace...

"We need to go! Now!" Ash shouted as he grabbed May's hand and ran out of the room and down the hallway, May had a hard job to keep up with his speed. Ash could hear the heavy footsteps of guards that were charging up the stairs towards them, he pushed May against the wall and pressed himself against her, this made her blush like crazy. The teen then pulled his cloak around them both, they were completely invisible in the shadows and the guards passed by without noticing. Once they were gone, Ash grabbed May's hand and began to run again.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, it was a choice of left, right or straight forward. May took over and pulled Ash down the left hallway, "How do you know the way?" Ash asked as they ran, "I *Pant* live here *Pant* stupid..." She replied, Ash could tell that she was struggling, being locked up in that tiny cell for ages had to have made her legs ache like hell. Ash scooped May up into a bridal state, making her yelp, and picked up the pace. "Which way?" He asked as they neared another turning, "Right, the a left and straight out of the front doors" Ash nodded and followed her directions. Soon enough, he came to two very large doors, he slammed them open with his shoulder and continued to run. The guards at the gate weren't expecting the intruder to come from behind, Ash made it by with little difficulty, he cursed when he heard the sound of galloping hooves. They would catch up in no time, he sprinted as fast as he could towards the town, perhaps he could lose them in the streets.

Ash, still carrying May, slowed to a gentle jog. He was panting and sweating, the teen had managed to get away, for now..."Uuummm, you can put me down now..." Said a slightly red faced May, Ash jumped, he had forgotten that he was carrying her in the chaos. "Oh! Sorry, I didn't realise..." He slowly let her down, she cringed slightly as her feet touched the cold, wet ground. An idea popped into Ash's head, "Stand on my feet." He proposed, May tilted her head in confusion, "What?" "Stand on my feet, then yours won't be cold." May thought for a moment, standing on this guy's feet did mean that she wouldn't risk stepping in whatever was on the floor, but it also meant that he would literally be embracing her. The thought made her blush like crazy. "O-Okay..." She mumbled shyly, Ash nodded and wrapped his arms around her waist, May stepped backwards onto his feet. All the while, a scarlet blush was on her face. The fact that May was an inch or two shorter than Ash meant that he could see over her head. May could feel the muscles in Ash's arms, he was very strong. The two began to walk forwards. As they walked into the main lit street, A few people gave them weird looks, but nobody pried any further into their business...

As they rounded a corner, they heard hooves galloping and the sounds of guards shouting, "Crap, they'll be here any minute..." Ash looked around, he spotted a barrel off to the side, "May, I need you to hide in there..." The brunette looked at him, "But what about you?" Ash grinned, "I'm gonna teach those guys not to mess with Ash Ketchum!" May's eyes went wide, "I only just realised that I didn't even know your name until just now!" Ash laughed. May stepped of his feet and lowered herself down into the empty barrel, there was a hole in the side so she could see everything that was going on.

As the guards rounded the corner, they spotted Ash standing in the middle of the street with his sword drawn, "There he is! Get the bastard!" A small crowd had gathered to watch the fight, Ash held out his sword, the guards took their battle stances. Ash looked them over, there were three, one was skinny and had two daggers, another was normal looking and had a sword and a shield and the last was slightly larger and was holding a steel war hammer. Ash grinned, "Which one of you retards wants to die first?"

Ash brought up his sword and blocked the downward slash attack from the guy with the sword and shield. He then grabbed the guards arm and pulled him towards him, the teen stuck out his foot and laughed as the guard's face smashed into the wall. "You'll pay for that you little brat!" He bellowed angrily ad he charged, attempting to smash the teen with his shield. To his surprise, the boy ran straight towards him. He brought up the heavy metal plate, ready to block whatever attack was coming, he felt a small thump on the shield and became confused, was that all he had? When he looked over the top of the shield, his mouth dropped, the kid was nowhere to be seen! "Ummm, over here..." He heard a cocky voice say behind him, he spun around to meet the hilt of a sword that had been smacked into his face, knocking him out cold.

The crowd cheered, the raven haired teen had used that guard's shield as a platform to jump over him! The other two guards were shocked as well, the kid was fast! The one with the daggers stepped forward next, "Screw taking you one on one, we'll both attack!" The other guard nodded, Ash sighed, "No honour huh? Oh well, extra people won't help you anyway..." Ash said with a cold grin, "Just be thankful that I'm not going to kill you..." The one with the hammer scoffed, "We'll see how long you can keep that cocky attitude..." This would be a new challenge for Ash, he had never fought more than one opponent at once before, he would have to be careful.

The one with the hammer attacked first, he swung his hammer to the left, attempting to take out Ash's legs. The teen jumped over the hammer and shoulder bashed the guard in the chest, he then dodged to the left to avoid the spinning slash from the guy with the daggers. Ash struck back by going in for a diagonal upward slash, the skinny guard managed to dodge but the larger one suffered a deep gnash on his main arm, Ash grinned, "That would slow him down!" He cheered inside his head, whilst Ash was pulling back, the skinny guy dived in and swiped his blade to the left. He caught Ash off guard and gave him a nasty slash on his left calf. Ash grunted in pain but quickly kneed the guard in the stomach, he gasped for air. The teen took the chance and grabbed him from behind, he then used him as a human shield to block the hammer swing from the guard's comrade. The metal made contact with the skinny guard's helmet and made a huge clang, the skinny guy was out before he even hit the ground. The big guard looked mortified, he could have just seriously injured his friend! He began to feel rage well up inside of himself, his glared at the raven haired boy, "YOUR GONNA REGRET THAT!" Ash smirked, "What are you talking about, your the one who hurt him" The guard couldn't take the anger any more and charged towards his target.

Ash had thought that the guard couldn't, but when he least expected it, the guard threw his war hammer and hit Ash in the side of the face. The blunt part of the hammer didn't do much damage because of the guard's weakened arm, but there was a sharp point on the hammer that opened up a slash above his left eye, blocking one of his eyes with a red liquid. Ash was furious, but then he realised something, the guard was now weapon less. He looked at the big guy with a death glare, he could see that the man was panting, blood was leaking from his injured arm. Ash held up his sword, "It's over" He said calmly, to his surprise, the guard nodded, "Indeed..." He managed to grunt as he fell to the ground, unconscious. Ash sighed in relief, the crowd applauded, it seemed that they had been waiting for someone to teach the guards a lesson. The teen looked over to the barrel that his acquaintance was hiding in, he saw her peak up over the top, she had a wide open mouth. Ash walked over to her, "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, the raven haired teen wiped the blood away from his eye, "Yeah...*pant*...Just a little tired..." May looked shocked, "How could you not be! You just took on three guards, two of them at once!" Ash smirked, "I'm aware of that" May giggled slightly but then became confused, "Where do we go now? We can't stay here..." Ash nodded, "I have a friend who can help us out..."

(10 minutes later)

Ash sighed in relief as he pushed through the door of the sleeping hydra, the sun was now above the horizon and the city was waking up. He noticed that Cynthia was sitting at a table, twiddling her thumbs, the blonde then noticed Ash and smiled. "You made it back! How did it go? And who is she?" Asked Cynthia curiously as she pointed at May, Ash began to explain, "First of all, the king is dead. Secondly, this is princess May, her family was murdered by the king that I killed." Cynthia's eyes widened, she turned to May,"It's good to see that you're okay your highness, I'm sorry about your family." May smiled, she still looked a little sad. "It's fine for you to call me May, I'm told that you're a friend of Ash's?" She said as she looked at the raven haired teen, Cynthia nodded, "He helped me out so now, Iv'e got his back." Ash grinned, "Thanks".

Before any more words could be said, a man that was the same age as Cynthia (20), burst through the door. He was carrying scrolls and had a brown knapsack on his back that was full of gadgets and many other pieces of equipment. "Cynthia, Cynthia! I think Iv'e finally discovered the truth abou-" His shouting cut off when he noticed the two teens. Cynthia giggled, "Hi Jack, it's okay, these two are my friends." The man sighed in relief and walked over to the group, Ash took in his features, he had short spiky brown hair, a chiselled face with a small amount of stubble running around the bottom of his chin to his ears and scarlet coloured eyes. He was quite good looking and could give Ash a run for his money. "Hello, I'm Jack, It's nice to meet you madam" He said as he extended a hand towards May, she smiled and shook it, "It's nice to meet you too Jack, I'm May." Jack nodded and turned towards Ash, before he could shake Ash hand, Cynthia spoke up. "Hey Jack" She said, getting his attention, "I know something that I think would amaze you." Jack raised a brow, "This isn't another game is it?" He replied, Cynthia shook her head and looked at Ash, "Jack can be trusted Ash, we've known each other since we were toddlers, is it okay if I tell him about...You know" Ash caught on to what she was saying, he looked at Jack, his eyes were full of curiosity. He seemed trustworthy, the teen nodded, "Yeah, that's fine by me" She smiled, "Great!" Jack was now even more puzzled, "What? What's goin' on? What am I missing?" Cynthia giggled again, "Weeeellllll, you see, Ash just happens to be an aura user" Jack froze, it took a while for him to process what Cynthia had said, "C-Come again?" He said quietly, "Ash...is...an...aura user" She said slowly, suddenly jack was all over Ash, "You're an aura user! Where have you been!? What can you do!? What do you eat!? Is there some kind of special meeting place!?" Ash was caught off guard by the barrage of questions, he waved his hands in front of him as he tried to get some breathing room.

(5 Minutes later)

The four friends were now sitting at one of the tables in the inn, the two teens were busy learning more about the new addition to the group. Ash's mouth dropped, "You study aura users!?" Jack nodded with a big smile on his face, "I sure do! I never thought that I would actually get to meet one! Sorry about bombarding you with questions earlier..." He said whilst scratching the back of his head, Ash chuckled, "Don't worry about it, I can understand how excited you must have been." May spoke up, "So, Cynthia said that you've known each other since you were little, how did you meet?" Suddenly, Jack's perky attitude disappeared, "Uh...I'd rather not talk about it, it's not that I don't trust you. It's just that, weeeelllll, It's kind of a big secret that me and Cynthia have been keeping for years..." Ash raised a brow and looked at the blonde haired woman, "We'll tell you when the time comes, just not right now." She said with an understanding smile as she looked at her long time friend, suddenly, the door was kicked in and five guards charged inside. The group stood up, Jack and Cynthia were in front of Ash and May, the guards barked orders at them. "You two! Get away from those criminals! If you don't, we'll haul you in for harbouring fugitives!" Jack tried to negotiate, "Now now, we weren't hiding these people at all, they just stopped by for a drink. Put away your weapons and then we can all have a nice chat, hmm?" He said calmly, the guard wasn't having any of it, "Shut your mouth peasant, or else I'll cut off your tongue!" Jack frowned, "That was uncalled for and extremely offensive, aren't you supposed to keep the peace and not ruin it?" The guard growled and held up his sword, "Those two behind you are guilty of murdering the king and if you don't step aside, you will be treated as one of them, the same goes for your wife!" Cynthia's face turned scarlet at the mention of the word 'wife'. Jack became furious, "You have no right to involve my completely innocent w-I mean friend!" He shouted with a tiny blush on his face, Ash looked at May, he could tell by the look on her face that she knew they had to get out of there. They didn't want to cause trouble for Jack and Cynthia, but the only way out was the front door, which was blocked by guards. Ash felt tired, he was still exhausted from the earlier fight.

"Gggaaaarrrggghhh! That's enough! Just kill em'!" Shouted one of the guards as he threw a sword towards Cynthia, her face turned to one of terror, Ash knew he wouldn't be able to make it in time but suddenly he froze. Jack had jumped in front of Cynthia and had taken the blade directly to the stomach, he seemed completely unaffected by the pain. "How dare you..." He said coldly as he slowly pulled the sword out of his blood stained shirt, Ash and May were dumbfounded, Cynthia had tears in her eyes. "I guess there's no choice now..." He said as his nose and ears began to grow longer and his body grew twice in size. His arms extended and he gained a considerable amount of height, his finger nails turned into razor sharp claws, all over his body were thick muscles that were grey and in black in certain areas. His mouth had extended like his nose to form a snout, Ash could see very sharp white teeth poking out of Jack's mouth, his eyes began to glow a deep red colour. The thing that came next terrified everyone except Cynthia, a deep growl that turned into a fierce roar, Ash finally figured out what Jack was. He was a moon shifter, or in other terms, a werewolf.

Moon shifters were thought to be extinct, they were a very mysterious race, only a few had been accounted for. In hindsight, they could barely be called a race since their numbers were extremely low, much lower than aura users. They are called moon shifters since they normally like to transform at night because they gain much more speed, strength and agility than transforming when the sun is up. It also takes a very large amount of skill to transform at day if you're a moon shifter, their abilities include enhanced smell, sight, hearing, reflexes and they can also resist poison, fire, water and lightening magic. Moon shifters can initiate a 'feral' or 'primal' ability where they abandon their human mind for a certain amount of time in exchange for unstoppable endurance and battle skills, literally making them invincible. They are also know for being immortal, the only way to kill a moon shifter is with a weapon made out of silver, that is then stabbed through the heart. Increasing and decreasing their size, as well as changing their form is another trait of their race, they can go from looking like a werewolf to transforming into a normal wolf. They have evolved to be almost un-killable so that the race can still survive, even with its tiny number of members. Other perks include night vision, hunting and tracking skills.

The first guard was the most unfortunate, he was slashed across the front by a huge claw, the man slammed to the ground and was left to bleed out. Jack then went down onto all fours, thanks to his arms being longer than his legs, and growled at the remaining guards. They were all shaking, Jack was too terrifying to even look at, even May could feel her knees trembling and she was on his side! The guard nearest the front went for it, he charged at Jack, waving his axe and screaming a battle shout. His voice was cut short when Jack pounced onto him, knocking him over, then next thing he felt was the beast's sharp teeth biting into his neck. The werewolf then looked up from his kill and spotted only two guards, the other must have rune to get reinforcements, or had simply run away because he was a coward. Jack growled and began to walk forward, standing up straight and looking huge, his chest had a clearly defined six pack and solid chest muscles. The sounds of whimpering coming from the guards excited him, he could hear their thumping hearts, terror was radiating from them. Suddenly, one guard grabbed his hammer and attempted to smash Jack's head, a simple upward slash ended everything for him. The last one turned and tried to bolt out of the door, he felt a strong grip on his leg trip him up and drag him back inside, "HELP ME!" He half screamed half cried, he was turned over to meet the slobbery maw that was Jack's mouth, said person let loose a soul haunting roar that turned the guard pale. He slammed his hands together and closed his eyes as he began to pray for aid, to his surprise, he didn't feel any pain. The guard was scared that if he opened his eyes, everything would end, he did it anyway. The werewolf was no standing next to the blond haired woman, "Leave this place! Don't come back!" He almost fainted in relief, "Y-Yes...O-Of course...whatever you say" He stuttered as he picked himself up and ran home, he was done wit this job.

(10 Minutes later)

Some people screamed, others dropped their mouths and some just stared. To say the least, a wolf that was slightly bigger than a horse wasn't a common thing to see running through the streets of Petalburg city. Ash, May and Cynthia were all riding on Jack as he was heading towards the exit of the city, they couldn't possibly stay there now since the news of a moon shifter being in town was spreading like wildfire. Jack would be hunted down by the elite generals and killed if he stayed, evacuation was the only option. Ash was marvelling at the speed that they were going, May was playing with Jack's relatively soft grey fur, braiding it and stroking it and Cynthia was patting Jack's head, trying to stop him from roaring at May. It's not that May was hurting him, it was just the fact that Jack didn't want to end up looking like a pampered pooch or have any patches of his coat missing from the amount of hair that May was pulling out by accident. Ash suddenly remembered something, "Hey, wait! What about my horse!" "Don't worry Ash, if any horses get left at my family's inn, we take care of them!" Cynthia replied over the sound of the wind that was rushing past. Ash nodded, Chestnut was in good hands.

(1 hour later)

The group had made it out of the city and were now looking at a beautiful brook that was running past them as they made their way through the forest. Jack let out a yawn from his huge mouth, Cynthia yawned as well, followed by Ash and then May. "Maybe we should stop for a rest?" Said Cynthia, she saw Jack's ears perk up at this suggestion, she giggled. "I think Jack agrees, how about you guys?" May nodded, "I could use a nap" Ash shrugged, "Why not? We've lost the guards anyway."

Jack walked over to the base of a huge oak tree, once the three had jumped off of his back, he flopped onto the ground with a loud thud. He then curled up and began to sleep, his slumber didn't last long since he was disturbed by a certain brunette who had pulled his big bushy tail over her and was now using it as a blanket, whilst laying against his body. She giggled, "It's so warm and fluffy, like a sheep." Jack sighed, although it sounded more like a grunt or snort. He closed his eyes again and began to sleep, Ash smiled at the scene, he was glad that he was in the company of people that he could trust. Cynthia was over by the brook, practising her water magic, Ash decided to go and have a look around.

(20 minutes later)

A successful rock throw earned Ash a fallen apple from a tree branch, there were lots of thing to eat in this forest, it was no surprise that he had seen lots of wild life. The trees were extremely tall, he hadn't noticed when they had first entered the forest. Ash continued to walk until something caught his eye, it was a wolf, and there were two small pups running in and out of its legs. He raised a brow, wolves were hardly ever sighted in the human kingdom, "Maybe Jack will know more about you..." Ash said to the creature, it stayed still, watching him with curious eyes. Ash decided to leave the animal in peace and continued to walk up the side of the brook.

(10 minutes later)

Ash broke through a line of bushes came into the view of a huge blue lake, on the far shore of the lake, a group of deer were drinking from the crystal clear water. Ash looked upwards and noticed that the sun was going to go down soon, he had to get back, he didn't want to get lost in the forest at night. He began to make his way back through the forest.

(20 minutes later)

Ash scratched his head, this was bad, the sun had already set and he was still confused about where to go. The forest looked completely different at night. He had to hurry, not being by a fire at night in a forest was very risky, anything could attack him at any moment. Night time was when all of the more vicious creatures began to wake up, he heard an owl hoot from above him in the trees and the sounds of many other things that lurked in the darkness. He closed his eyes and tried to slow down his rapid heart rate so that he could focus, eventually, the thumping died down and he was able to sense the aura of the things around him. He knew that doing this was risky, because of his glowing body and eyes, he was practically begging to be a target. The teen saw a faint glow of three figures, one was much larger than the other two, that had to be his friends. Just as Ash was about to make a move, he spotted two other glowing figures, they were much larger than him and seemed to be walking in his direction. Ash opened his eyes as they stepped through the bush, ogres...

One of them spotted Ash and elbowed his companion, "Oi! There's a rat over here!" The one who had been elbowed snarled, "I hate rats!" Ash knew that ogres were incredibly stupid, the thing to watch out for was their strength, the teen could tell that these two were strong since they were both carrying heavy wooden clubs. Ash gulped, this fight was going to be difficult, he couldn't focus on moving around in the darkness as well as fighting. "Let's just kill him!" Said the first one as he chuckled evilly, "Yeah, and den we can eat him, right?" Said the other, like an excited child, the first one nodded and took a swing at Ash...

(Back at the camp)

May was worried, it was already dark and Ash still hadn't come back, she turned to Cynthia who also looked worried. Jack was fast asleep, he seemed to become very lazy whenever he transformed, he was more like a dog than a wolf. Suddenly, Jack's ears twitched and he began to growl, he had heard something that he didn't like. "What is it Jack?" The beast simply stood up and morphed into his humanoid form, he looked at May and Cynthia and pointed at the ground whilst giving them a bark, he was trying to tell them something. "Are you saying that we should stay here?" Asked Cynthia, he nodded and then took off into the darkness of the trees, leaving a very dissatisfied Cynthia and a worried May behind.

(Back with Ash)

The teen ducked under yet another swing from a wooden club, the ogres were getting angry, "Grrrr, little pest, stop moving! I'm hungry!" The other ogre tried to jump on Ash but he dived to the left, barely avoiding a horrible death, he could smell the sweat that his two opponent were covered in. The raven haired tee was beginning to feel exhausted, he fought against the urge to fall and dived forward whilst slashing to the right, he managed to slice one of the ogres across the chest. "GGGAAARRRGGHHH, THAT HURT YOU BRAT! I'LL MAKE SURE TO BOIL YOU ALIVE!" He bellowed in pain, "Gork! I'll kill ya!" Shouted his friend as he swung at a downward angle towards Ash, the teen tried to run but tripped and slammed into the ground. _Is this it? Is this how I'm gonna die?_ He braced himself but felt nothing, he only heard a slamming sound and a grunt from one of the ogres. Ash rolled over and saw the furry back of his friend, Jack had saved him, the wooden club had been stopped and was now being gripped in his right hand. The beast growled, making the ogre let go of his weapon and back up in fear, Ash grinned. "Thanks Jack, thought I was done for..." Jack looked over his shoulder and nodded at him, he then swung the club at the injured ogre's head, the impact shattered his skull and killed him instantly. The companion of the dead ogre shrieked in fear, Jack simply threw the club towards him and turned around. He walked over to Ash and yawned, the teen got the message, "So you want me to take this guy?" The beast nodded, Ash shrugged, "Yeah, okay, why not? I guess I owe you one." Jack patted Ash on the shoulder with his massive hand and then stood by to watch the fight.

Roark didn't know what to do, if he took on this kid then he could die, if he gained the upper hand then he would die since that wolf was watching and if he tried to run then he would die...No! That furry bastard killed his friend, as soon as the kid was dead, he was next! The ogre picked up his friend's club and growled, there was no way for that kid to dodge two clubs at once.

Ash looked his opponent over, he was clearly furious about the death of his friend and was swinging two clubs around like crazy. He began to charge towards Ash, whilst screaming like a madman. As soon as he got close enough, he brought the two weapons up high and swiped them downwards, Ash ran forward and slid under the ogre's legs. The clubs smashed into the ground, creating a mini shock wave and sending rocks flying everywhere. Ash rolled over onto his front and lunged at the ogre's sweaty back, plunging his sword deep into his opponent's flesh, and causing him to roar in pain. The ogre growled and attempted to crush Ash by falling backwards, the teen quickly jumped back and landed above the ogre's head, he then brought his sword down whilst the fat figure was recovering from his fall. The blade went straight through his neck and finished him off, Ash had won.

The teen pulled out his sword and sighed in relief, "Whew, glad that's over..." Jack walked over and patted him on the back, he chuckled, "Thanks for the help...*Pant*" The teen saw his friend morph into his wolf form and then look at him, Jack barked, "You want me to get on, right?" Jack nodded, Ash did so and climbed onto the creature's furry hide, he was then lifted up and taken back towards the camp.

(10 minutes later)

May was anxious at first when she heard rustling sounds coming from the bushes in front of the camp, but then her anxiety turned to relief as she saw Ash on Jack's back. "Where have you been!? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to be out in the darkness of the woods at night!?" Ash slid off of Jack's back and scratched the back of his head, "Sorry...Kinda got carried away...And lost." May smiled slightly, "Well, it's good that you're back, I hope you are thankful to Jack" Ash nodded and patted said person's head, "I am, thanks buddy" Jack closed his eyes and enjoyed the praise, he then got a little too happy and licked Ash's face, "Ewwww! Gross!" May giggled, the wolf then walked back over to his spot by the tree but noticed that a certain blonde beauty was already sleeping there, he sighed and morphed into his humanoid form. Jack used his long arms to pick up his child hood friend and move her slightly, he then morphed back into his wolf form and curled up around her, she smiled in her sleep and snuggled up closer to his face. They had always slept like this when they were in the wilderness since it didn't require a fire to keep them warm, meaning that they wouldn't be spotted by any bandits or other bad things.

Ash sat down on a log near the fire with May next to him, he was looking at the sleeping form of Jack and Cynthia with a smile on his face, although he looked a little sad. May noticed this and became a little worried, "Ash? Are you okay?" He blinked a couple of times and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, it's just that the way those two are sleeping reminded me of the hugs that my mom used to give me..." May became curious, "Used to? Doesn't she give you hugs any more?" Ash's face shaded over, "Not any more..." May could tell that Ash was feeling bothered by her questioning so she decided to stop. To her surprise, Ash continued to speak, "You know...I wanted to take revenge against all humans for the stuff that has been happening with my race, but now, I've learned that it's not all of the humans that are causing this. It's the leaders, the kings and queens, the governors. They all need to be taken down. I didn't want to be involved with anyone because I feared that I would get them killed, but maybe it's time for a change of heart..." May was listening intently and jumped slightly when Ash looked her in the eye, "I need you, all of you guys, I'm not gonna make it on my own..." May blushed slightly, "I-I owe you a debt that I can probably never repay, staying with you is nothing compared to what you have done for me...Thank you..." She said shyly as her blush deepened, Ash smiled, "Guess we better get some sleep" He said as he stood up and went and led back against Jack's huge furry body, May followed suit and used Jack's tail as a blanket, "Goodnight May" Ash said as he drifted off into a deep slumber, May smiled, "Goodnight Ash..." She replied as she drifted off as well.

Nobody saw it, but that night, a kiss was planted on a certain teen's cheek. The question is, which one?

**And there you have it! Thank you for reading this chapter, sorry it took so long to upload, I've kinda been in a slump and haven't been able to generate many ideas. So! As you can see, there is a new addition to the team, I hope you like him! It was a pleasure writing this and I hope that it was a pleasure for you to read, don't forget to review, and until next time! ;)**

**P.S. Iv'e changed my name to Will O Wisp191,doesn't sound too bad...Does it?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome to chapter four! I hope you are all enjoying this story, it makes me happy to see what you guys think so reviews are appreciated. So, let's jump right in!**

_"You idiot! You revealed the biggest secret that you have been keeping for ages, not to mention all of that research you left behind! How stupid are you! Everybody thought your kind was gone, you had a chance to live in peace and yet you threw it away!" "I had to! My friends were in trouble! I wasn't just gonna stand by and let them get killed! Especially Cynthia! Why would I save her ages ago just to let her die at any random moment!" "She's a mortal, she's going to die anyway! It's not like she's going to be with you forever, don't get too attached, you remember what happened with Krista?" "Shut the fuck up! You have no idea how hard I fought for her, I wasn't quick enough..." "That's going to happen again, it's inevitable...Your're going to be alone for all of eternity..."_

Jack slowly opened his eyes, the sun was just peeking over the horizon, he felt three weights leaning against his big furry body. He moved his eyes slightly to the left and saw Cynthia, she had a cute sleeping face...He didn't want to move since he would risk waking his companions too early, so he just kept his head on the ground and looked at the surrounding area. There was a fresh layer of dew on the grass and a fresh smell in the air, the scents of pine leaves and nearby forest animals entered his nose. He thought about how they had ran out of Petalburg city and where they would go next, he had some friends in Rustboro that might be able to set him and the group up with a cabin for a while, they owed him a few favours.

(20 Minutes later)

Ash felt one of the masses move, it was the one that was the closest to his tail, as a matter of fact, his tail was being hugged by it! He lifted his head and looked at the rising form of May, she was obviously chilly in the fresh air of the morning since she was trying to use Jack's tail as a coat. She noticed him staring at her and smiled, "Morning" She whispered, Jack nodded at her as a greeting, "It looks like someone is comfortable" Said May whilst giggling and pointing at Cynthia, who was hugging Jack's neck whilst she slept. Jack simply nodded again, he was thankful that his fur hid his blush, now that May was up, he took a look at Ash. He was obviously tired from his late night yesterday since he was snoring, a small drop of drool was hanging off the edge of his mouth, Jack growled quietly. He noticed that May staring at Ash with a small smile on her face, as well as a tiny blush, he raised a brow.

May helped lift Ash off of Jack so that he could get up, Cynthia was another story, she was practically stuck to him. Eventually, May managed to release her iron grip from Jack's neck and lay her down on a dry patch of grass at the base of the tree that they had all slept under. Now that Jack could move freely, he morphed into his humanoid form, May was still slightly intimidated by his size. Jack pointed at the forest and then pointed at his stomach whilst looking at May, she tilted her head in confusion, "What?" Jack rolled his eyes, he pointed one of his massive fingers at his mouth and snapped it a few times, he then pointed at each person of the group, then his stomach, then the forest. May caught on this time, "Oh! You're saying that you're gonna get food for everyone, right?" Jack nodded and then gave her a small wave, he then jogged into the forest whilst extending his claws, some unfortunate animal was going to be hunted today...

(10 minutes later)

Cynthia slowly opened her eyes, the first thing that she noticed was that her warm fluffy pillow was gone, the next thing she noticed was the smell of smoke. The blonde beauty sat up and yawned whilst stretching, she looked around and saw a snoring Ash to her left and May, who was to her right sitting on a log in front of a fire. Jack was nowhere to be seen. There was a pot of water boiling over the top of the flames, she stood up and walked over to her friend, "Morning May, where's Jack?" The brunette smiled and prompted her to sit down, Cynthia did so and sat next to her on the log, "Morning Cynthia, Jack left not long ago, I think he went hunting." Cynthia smiled, "That's so him...Always looking out for people." May smiled slyly, "Ooooohhhhh, looks like Cynthia has a little crush on Jack" Cynthia's face went a scarlet colour and she looked at the ground, "I-I do not..." May giggled, "Your reaction says otherwise, but I've really been wanting to know, how did you meet Jack?" Cynthia's face was still slightly red but she began to speak, "Well, now that you know his secret I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you."

(Cynthia's memory)

A nine year old blonde haired girl was walking through the streets of Petalburg city, she had gotten separated from her grandmother whilst they were at the market and was now completely lost...She turned left into a shady alleyway, three figures suddenly appeared from the darkness behind her, she snapped around and was about to scream but was grabbed from behind by another figure. "Woo hoo! We got one boys!" Said the figure behind her, "But this one's a kid dude, she's not gonna have anything good, we should just kill her." The girl's eyes widened in fear as tears began to fall down her soft cheeks, "Why waste her? We could always sell her into slavery, and if that doesn't work out..." He laughed evilly, "We could always have a little...Fun..." He whispered into her ear, the tears were now flooding out of the girl's eyes.

Just when she thought it was all over, skinny looking dog ran down the alleyway and bit one of the figure's leg, he bellowed in agony. "Ah! Stupid piece of shit! Die!" He shouted as he tried to cut down the dog with his sword, the creature ran between his legs and turned right at the end of the alleyway, "Hey get back here you little shit!" One shouted as they all chased after it, leaving the little girl behind. After around five seconds, she heard their faint voices, "Which way did it go?" "I don't know, let's try the left!" The voices and footsteps began to fade away to nothing, the girl was too scared to move and stayed sitting down in the alleyway.

After a few more seconds, a boy the same age as her ran into the alleyway, he stopped in front of her. She looked him over, he seemed to be out of breath for some reason...The boy was wearing little more than rags and a pair of brown worn out sandals, he had messy brown hair and scarlet coloured eyes that she couldn't take her eyes off of. He held out his grubby hand, "Are you okay?" The girl shakily grabbed his hand and was pulled to her feet, "Y-Yes...B-But what h-happened to that d-dog?" She stuttered with a trembling voice, the boy smiled, "Don't worry, he's fine! It's me!" The girl became slightly confused, "Your mister dog?" He nodded with a grin, "But it's a secret, you can't tell anyone!" The girl nodded with a small smile, "Pinky promise?" She nodded again and held out said finger, the boy did the same and the promise was made.

(End of memory)

"Wow..." Said May in awe, "So he saved you? That's so cute! He's a prince and your his princess!" She said in a squeaky voice, Cynthia blushed deeply again and started playing with her hair.

(In the forest)

Jack jumped from branch to branch, his long arms and legs as well as his strength and agility made movement easy, he was currently searching for a big enough target to feed the group. The words from his dream kept flashing into his head, "_She's going to die anyway...It's inevitable..." _He growled and shook his head, suddenly an interesting smell wafted to his nose, it was the smell of blood. It exited him slightly, his beast side always caused this reaction whenever he caught the scent, he focused on that particular smell and began to track it down.

The trail led him to the side of a fast flowing river, on the bank was an injured elk, blood was leaking from a puncture wound on its side. He could tell that it wasn't going to survive, it had already lost too much blood. The animal must have fallen into the river and had been impaled by a branch, he could hear its desperate groans for help, he felt weird, he almost..._Liked_ the sound...He shook his head clear of these thoughts and sat down on the branch he was standing on, he contemplated whether to finish it off or not, he decided to wait for its little flame of life to extinguish on its own.

(Back with the group)

"I think it's time for me to wake up mister sleepy head" Said May as she looked at the sleeping form of Ash, Cynthia nodded, "As soon as Jack comes back with some food, we will have to move on so I think that's a good idea." May walked over to the raven haired teen and giggled, he was drooling like a little kid. She poked his arm a few times, "Ash...It's time to get up" The raven haired teen simply grunted and rolled over, an idea then popped into her head, "Okay Ash, You've got five seconds" Ash didn't respond, only continued to snore, "Five...Four...Three...Two...One!" She shouted as she poured a bucket of cold water over his head, she had found it next to the tree where they had slept, it must have been Jack's drinking water. The shock made Ash spring up into the air with a huge scream, "Ahhhhh! Damn that's cold!" He was soaked, May could barely contain her laughter, the boy glared at her but then grinned evilly. "Time for revenge..." He said darkly, May yelped as she was dived on, the force knocking her over onto the ground. Ash landed on top of her and then began to do the one thing that May couldn't stand, A tickle attack...The brunette was laughing hysterically with tears in her eyes, "Ash! Hahahah, s-stop!" Ash just laughed as well and continued to drive her crazy. Cynthia looked at the two and smiled, just then, her stomach demanded food by growling loudly. She put a hand on he belly in an attempt to stop the hunger pains, it didn't work, "I wonder what's taking Jack so long..." She said to herself as she looked towards the forest, "I know hunting takes a while, but with his skills he should have been here ages ago..."

(With the wolf)

Jack noticed a bear walking towards his dinner, he growled and leaped of the tree branch, landing between the bear and the dead elk. He let loose a fierce roar, the bear growled and roared back at him, it wasn't wasting it's chance to get a meal. Jack mentally sighed, he couldn't be bothered to fight this thing, he was too hungry...Instead, he grew until he was three times the size of the bear, it backed down slightly but didn't give up. Jack was beginning to get pissed, why wouldn't this thing bug off? Finding food was hard but it wasn't worth getting into a fight over. Especially if the opponent was as he big as he was. He saw the bear rear up and try to take a slow swipe at him with its claw, he simply grabbed it around the torso and gave it a quick squeeze, several cracking sounds were heard as the bear howled in pain. Jack finished it of with a bite to the neck, being able to increase and decrease his size made fights so easy. The only problem was that it took a lot of energy, he shrank down slightly and walked over to the elk's carcass. He picked it up with his right hand and began to walk back towards the camp, he froze when he heard a small bawling sound from behind him, he turned around to see a bear cup nudging the corpse of what must have been its mother. Jack's heart dropped and his stomach ached, what had he just done? Thinking of nothing else, he walked over and picked up the bear cub, making it squeal for help. He then made his way back to the camp with the bear cub ,calling for the help of its parent, in his hand. The baby bears calls went unanswered.

(At the camp)

Cynthia smiled as she saw the enlarged form of Jack break through the bushes, the hunt must have been successful since he was carrying two things, one looked like an elk and the other was...Still moving...Jack walked over and place down the elk, he then looked at Cynthia with grief in his eyes, she instantly could tell that something was wrong.

Jack held out the creature in his hand so that she could get a clear look. She saw that it was a bear cub, the animal was squirming around in Jack's hand, trying to find an escape. "What happened? Why have you got that cub?" Jack put the cub down on the ground, it rolled over and began to kick and scratch in his direction, attempting to make him back off. Jack the morphed into his human form, he still had his clothes on since they since they didn't disappear whenever he transformed. The man walked over to Cynthia and surprised her by bringing her into an embrace, a small blush appeared on her face but she slowly wrapped her arms around him. "Jack? What's wrong?" She said as he looked at her face, she became worried when she saw his troubled face, he took a deep breath and began to speak. "I-I killed...Its m-mother, I thought that i-it was gonna fight for the food but it only wanted to feed its child..." Jack had a look of pure grief and sadness on his face, Cynthia knew that Jack could become very brutal in a fight but afterwards, he would regret every second of it.

Cynthia smiled sadly, "Hey, you had no idea that the bear had a child. Plus, that cub looks old enough to fend for its self, I wouldn't worry about it." After a while, Jack smiled, "You always know what to say..." Cynthia's blush deepened, she realised that she was still hugging Jack but for some reason, she didn't want to break away. The blonde haired beauty simply looked into his scarlet coloured eyes, he looked back into her silver ones. The two were in their own little world and jumped when a cough, that came from a confused aura user, interrupted them. The two quickly backed away from each other with deep blushes on their faces, "Okay, first, why is there a bear cub running away over there?" He said whilst pointing at the fleeing animal, "And secondly, what were you two just doing?" Ash said teasingly as a sly smile appeared on his face, Cynthia attempted to defend, "N-Nothing, just...um...Checking Jack for parasites! Right Jack?" The brunette frowned but nodded, "Y-Yeah!" Although, he was pissed at Cynthia for making him sound like some kid of filthy animal, he was a proud wolf! Ash wasn't convinced but decided to drop the subject, "Anyway, I see the hunt was a success Jack, thanks for the elk!" Jack nodded at him, "I'll get to work skinning and serving the meat, it won't take long, I'll leave the cooking to Cynthia." The woman smiled, "It'd be my pleasure!"

Jack handed a plate full of meat slices to Cynthia, she took them from him with a nod in thanks and then started to cook the food. After everyone was full, the group packed up their supplies and all gathered around Jack, who was holding a map that he had pulled out of his knapsack. "So, where to next?" Asked Cynthia, Ash looked at May, she knew that they had to tell their companions about their quest. "Actually, Iv'e got something that I need to tell you guys" Jack and Cynthia looked at him with their brows raised, May sat down on a log, "May's got the right idea, take a seat, this could take a while..."

(After an explanation of the quest)

Jack nodded with a grin on his face, "It sounds like a big job, you're gonna definitely need some smarts in the group, I'm in!" Ash smiled, "Thanks man" He then looked a Cynthia, "I still owe you for what you did for me at Evergreen town, consider me a member!" She said with a smile, Ash grinned, "I most definitely will" He turned to May, she giggled, "It sounds like fun! Plus, I couldn't just let my rescuer up and leave me..." She said the last part quietly with a small blush on her face, Ash smiled, "Thanks May, all of you guys, we'll be a perfect team! Nothing can stop us!" Jack chuckled, "Confidence is good, just don't build up too much of it and go rushing in" Ash crossed his arms, "But it's more fun that way..." He mumbled, Jack chuckled again as well as Cynthia and May. Ash took a look at the names on the contract that he had taken from the dead king of the human kingdom, King Salvo of the jungle kingdom towards the east, King Nazar of the desert kingdom towards the south, King Sethos of the ocean colonies towards the west and finally King Dio of the northern tundras. By the looks of Jack's map, the human kingdom was located near the jungle kingdom, they had to go through the forests of Celestia to get there. "Looks like we're gonna have a run in with the scouts after all..." Ash said to himself, he looked at the group, Jack spoke up. "Where to Ash? Your call." Ash nodded, "The closest place if the eastern jungle kingdom, we should head there." Jack nodded, "Good choice, Okay! Let's go!" He said as he packed away his map and morphed into his wolf form, the group mounted up. Cynthia was closest to the front, May was behind her and Ash was nearest the back. Once everyone was on, Jack took off at a very fast speed.

(10 minutes later)

May was busy watching the farmlands and grassy plains speed by when suddenly, a question popped into her head, "Hey Cynthia?" The blonde haired woman turned her head to the side, using one of her hands to stop her hair from blowing into her face, "What is it May?" She asked curiously, May had to shout over the sound of the wind that was blowing into their faces, "If Jack and you travel like this, then how do you get by patrols with jack in this form?" Cynthia smiled, "Well, I say that I'm a beast tamer and that Jack is a trained dire wolf. Since he is only transformed, it's easy to make them believe us by me telling him to do complex stuff and by him obeying the orders without any retaliation so it's almost like I really am a beast tamer" Jack growled slightly, Cynthia giggled, "Don't worry, I would never order you around like that" Jack nodded with a puffed up look on his face, he was a proud, free wolf! May had a look of awe on her face, "Wow...That's an amazing idea!" Cynthia shrugged, "Jack was the one who came up with it, if you ask me, it's pretty average" She said teasingly, Jack just rolled his eyes and speeded up, he wanted to get as far as possible in one day.

(6 hours later)

The sun was low in the sky and the temperature was beginning to drop, Jack was still running although he knew that he needed to stop soon, running at this speed at night with people on his back meant that the would probably freeze. He looked for a good place to stop and spotted a barn near the edge of the dirt road they were travelling on, it wasn't far up ahead. It looked slightly run down but he could see that the roof was in tact and would provide sufficient shelter for the night, since his nose was telling him that it was going to start raining soon. His nose didn't lie as he suddenly felt a drop of water land on his snout, "Huh? It's starting to rain!" Said May worriedly, she wasn't a fan of getting wet, Cynthia turned her head to face her. "Don't worry, Jack already has a plan, we're heading to that barn over there." Ash leaned out from behind May, he had been silent for most of the trip, the reason why was revealed. His face was practically green and he was barely holding back his lunch, "G-Good..." He managed to choke out, Jack grinned, he looked quite funny. To think that he knew one of this aura users's weaknesses, motion sickness...

(5 minutes later)

Jack entered the barn with everyone on his back, he sniffed the air, there were no scents of other living things inside. He gave a bark to Cynthia, she nodded and hopped off, "Jack says it's safe in here" Ash and May nodded and jumped off as well. Inside the barn, there was a bottom floor that had a huge pile of hay on the ground and a top floor that also had lots of hay. There was a ladder leading to the top floor, Jack morphed back into his human form and turned to his companions, he clapped his hands together. "Right, you all go up and get some sleep, I'll keep watch down here." Ash raised a brow, "Are you sure? We probably won't get the chance to sleep on a bed as comfortable as this for a while..." Jack waved him off, "There's hay down here as well, if I get tired I'll just lie down on that" May smiled, "Thanks Jack" He nodded, Cynthia on the other hand looked a little sad. "Okay...See you in the morning..." Jack smiled at her, "Sleep well" They all turned around and headed up the ladder for a good nights sleep.

(2 hours later)

Jack didn't want his friends to see what was going to happen that night, he stepped out of the barn and looked up into the stars...It was a full moon, he was going to literally lose his mind...It always happened during full moons, moon shifters loose their human mind and their primal side takes over, they then go on a hunt until morning. The thing that worried Jack was the fact that any living thing that was found by a moon shifter during a full moon...Was killed, and in a very brutal way, it was torn to pieces and eaten. The brunette didn't want his friends to suffer that fate, he closed the door to the barn and morphed into his wolf form, Jack took one last look at the place where his friends were sleeping and then began to run away. He needed to get as far away as possible before he 'primalised' as he liked to call it. The brunette hoped that his beast side wouldn't somehow find its way back to the barn, if it did, Ash was the only one who would stand a chance...

(20 minutes later)

Cynthia knew what was going on, she hated the fact that Jack had to do this, it was the main reason of why his race wasn't meant to make contact with others. Any friends made by a moon shifter were at risk of being killed every full moon, the fact that Jack hadn't turned primal yet was due to intense training and meditation, his research on aura users also helped to distract him. She climbed down the ladder and peeked through a hole in the door, she saw the small dot that was jack on the horizon, her turned around and waved. Cynthia was amazed that he knew that she was there, his senses did improve at night, but this was amazing! The woman smiled and waved, although, Jack probably couldn't see it through the door...The wolf then turned back around and continued to sprint away.

(30 minutes later)

Jack could feel it starting, his limbs were no longer obeying him and his mouth was producing more saliva than usual, his vision became blurry. _"Kill! Kill! Blood! Eat! Slash!" _All of these thoughts were rushing through his head, it was like he was inside a living nightmare. Just then, he lost all control and faded into darkness.

_"Finally! Hahahaha! I'm free! Must kill, must eat!" _Screamed the voice inside what was Jack's head, he stopped running and morphed into his humanoid form, he looked at his hands. The claws were sharp and ready to kill, he looked up, the moon was directly overhead. He felt the urge building up, he sucked in air and reared his head back. A soul haunting howl was then sent out over the grasslands, terrifying anything that heard it, or at the very least, making a cold sweat break out on the listener's body. The beast brought its head back down and looked around with its extreme eyesight, he saw a faint light in the distance, _"Food...Hunt...Kill...Eat!" _The voice bellowed inside its head as the werewolf took off in the direction of its next meal. _"Eat Eat Eat Eat EAT!" _

(On the road)

A certain green haired prince was sitting inside his royally decorated carriage as it made its way through the grass lands of the human kingdom, he had been sent out on this patrol by his advisor, Trip. After his father was killed, he had been furious, the attackers had probably tried to escape using the roads since it was the fastest way. He was now searching for them in the fields, or more like sitting by whilst the thirty guards that were with him did all of the work, he was leaning on his hand and looking out of the window. Nothing had happened so far, sure he was angry with his father for just dying on him like that but at the same time, he was happy, now he got to be king! His eyes widened when he suddenly heard a long screeching howl, it felt like it was shaking his heart, he could feel fear rising up from his stomach. The guards out side were both terrified and confused, he could hear them shouting at each other, "What was that!?", "I have no idea, what ever it was, its close!", "I think I almost shit myself!", "Protect the prince!" He then heard it, heavy footsteps and panting...Heading in their direction...He jumped out of the carriage with his sword drawn, he saw that all of the knights were at the front with their weapons drawn, "What is it!?" He shouted at the nearest guard, the man looked at him with a small hint of fear in his eyes, "It looks like a wolf...But there's something weird about it...It's heading straight for us!" The prince took a place behind the back of the formation, he wasn't gonna risk getting his clothes dirty, it was probably just a stupid hunger driven animal...

(With the beast)

_"There's so many! Hahahahaha! It's an all you can eat banquet! Delicious! I can smell their fear!" _The beast was quickly sprinting towards the group of guards, the smell of fear got stronger as he got closer, they must have realised what he was. As soon as he entered the torch light, all hell was gonna break loose, _"HAHAHAHA! I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER, FLESH!"_ He screamed inside his head, once he entered the torchlight, the guards all saw what he was and began to scream and some braver ones started to attack. The wolf grabbed the nearest one and began to feast on the poor man's arm, "AHHH! GET IT OFF OF ME!" No matter how many spears pierced his flesh, 'Jack' wouldn't stop, the guard was torn to pieces and then thrown aside. He moved onto the next, then the next, then another, there wasn't any stopping him. The prince was terrified, he used the deaths of his loyal knights as a distraction and climbed inside the carriage, locking the door behind him. He then pulled down the curtains and clamped his hands over his ears, attempting to shut out the sounds of screams and flesh being ripped apart outside, it didn't work. He could hear everything, that thing's roars were terrifying, it was like it had come straight out of his worst nightmares.

(Hours later)

He was regaining control, at first it was his hands, he was holding something...Next it was his legs, then his nose. He could smell a lot of blood, that was to be expected, he just hoped that it was an animal that he had killed. Finally, he regained control over his eyes, he looked to his left and saw the sun was peeking over the horizon. He looked to the right, wide open fields, he hadn't travelled very far away from the farm. He then remembered that he was holding something, he looked at it and became confused, it was a furry ball...He rotated it slightly and almost puked...It was a human's head! Jack dropped it and looked at his other hand, he was holding what must have been the man's body, _"Oh lord..." _He said inside his head as he backed away, tripping over the many corpses that were on the road, he couldn't believe what had happened...

He looked behind him and saw a carriage, it was decorated with many different golden patterns, he could tell that it was a royal one. He morphed back into his, much less blood covered, human form. He then walked over and knocked on the door of the carriage, he heard someone scramble around inside, "W-W-W-What do you want!? W-Who's there!?" Jack was surprised that someone had survived his rampage, but then again, the carriage was designed to resist blows from a giant..."Um...What happened here?" Asked Jack, attempting to act like he had only just gotten there, it seemed to work. He heard a click and the the door was slowly pushed open, "I-Is it gone?" Jack faked a confused expression, "Is what gone?"

The prince jumped out of the carriage and his face turned to horror when he saw the carnage that had taken place last night, "Oh my lord..." He managed to choke out before puking all over his own boots, Jack could understand, if he had seen this type of death for the first time then he would be doing the same thing. Being a werewolf meant that eventually, you would get used to seeing things like this, but Jack still felt bad about his actions. Once the green haired teen had emptied his stomach, he turned to Jack, "You! Peasant! Which way did the beast go!" Jack crossed his arms, he felt like ripping this guy apart, "I didn't see anything, only these bodies when I got here," The prince growled, "Useless, you and these guards, what a waste of taxes" The brunette could tell that this guy was spoiled rotten, his attitude didn't help either, "I beg your pardon, how dare you call these brave men a waste, they gave their lives to protect you!" Shouted Jack, the prince spat on the ground, "And they died in the process! If they can't survive one fight then what use are they. You have no right to question me! Do you realise that with one lift of my finger, I can make your head roll!" The next thing he felt was a fist impacting with his face, the force knocked him backwards into the carriage, he slowly slid down the side and landed on his rear. His nose was obviously broken, "I don't care if your a prince, out here, your just another target!" Said Jack menacingly, he turned around and walked away, but not before spitting on the unconscious bush head.

(Back at the barn)

Ash slowly opened his eyes, the smell of hay and the fresh morning air entered his nose, he yawned and stretched. He tried to move but was surprised when he felt a weight on his chest, he looked down and saw the top of May's head, a deep blush appeared on the teen's face. What was she doing? Did she even realise what she was doing? His question was answered when she shuffled slightly but didn't get up, she was still asleep. Ash decided to try and get up, he gently moved the brunette off of his chest and put her down on a pile of hay. Ash sighed, if she had woken up, the awkwardness would have been unbearable...Ash turned around, he noticed that Cynthia was curled up in a ball over in the corner with her eyes closed, she looked cold. The raven haired teen walked over to the edge of the second floor platform and looked down, Jack was was nowhere to be seen, he raised a brow. Ash climbed down the ladder and looked around, he still couldn't find Jack, he decided to go outside.

Ash pulled open the big door to the barn and looked around, the sun was just above the horizon and there was a fresh layer of dew on the grass in the surrounding fields. He noticed a figure heading towards the barn, it was approaching very quickly, it had to be Jack. His suspicion was confirmed when the wolf got close enough to be recognised, the teen waved, he received a distant bark in return.

Once Jack had finally made it to the barn, he morphed back into his human form, Ash raised a brow, "Where were you this morning?" Jack pointed out into the clearings, "I want for a run, all this space was begging to be used up, I can reach speeds here that wouldn't be possible in other areas." Ash nodded, "Sounds like fun" Jack nodded, "I don't think you would be a fan though, considering what happened yesterday..." Ash scratched the back of his head with a goofy grin, "That was mainly due to that fact that I ate and then was immediately put on a very fast, bumpy wolf ride..." Jack chuckled, "I'll take that into consideration..." They both laughed for a while, Jack then became serious, "About this quest...We're probably going to run into some...Complications, I just want you to know that when that happens, if I'm busy...Can you look out for Cynthia, she means a lot to me, if I lost her...I would loose myself." Ash smiled at his companion, "Hey, we're all in this together, of course I'll watch out for my friends" Jack smiled and put his hand on Ash's shoulder, "Thanks man, it means a lot to me"

(1 Hour later)

Once everyone was awake, had eaten and were ready to travel, Jack morphed into his wolf form and they all hopped on. This time, May sat at the front with Ash behind her and Cynthia closest to the back. The group took one last look at the barn and then set off don the dirt road. Ash looked around, for a second, he could of swore that he saw a person walking through a field. His vision was quickly cut of by high bushes as they entered a forest, he shrugged it off, "_Must have been a farmer"_ He thought to himself.

**Thanks for reading! It's getting more and more fun to write this story as the plot progresses so I hope that you all like it! As you saw this chapter, the bonds between the group members were ****strengthening, and that's good since trust will be needed during their adventure! Reviews welcome, constructive criticism, ideas or just your opinion on the story! Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome to chapter 5! First thing I would like to say is thanks a lot for you guys reviewing, I can't explain how happy it makes me to see what you guys think of my story. The group is going to be doing some more travelling in this chapter with a few stops along the way, so, without further ado, on with the story! But it looks like our heroes are in a bit of trouble...**

Ash grunted as he brought up his sword to block the downward swipe of a sword that was slightly longer than his, the impact sent painful vibrations throughout his whole body. Ash pushed his sword upwards and the kicked the man backwards, the teen then lunged forward and locked swords with his opponent, both fighting for dominance. Ash suddenly heard the bellowing of a man running towards him from behind, he looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened, there was no way that he could fight back! The man brought up his broad sword with a shrill scream but was cut off when five sharp claws burst out of his chest, a roar was then heard as the man was thrown to the side, revealing strong looking werewolf that was fighting off other men who had the same idea as the one he had just killed. Ash grinned, Jack had his back covered. The raven haired teen turned to his head to face his enemy, who was now shocked that a werewolf was protecting a kid, Ash chuckled. "That's my buddy Jack, I wouldn't recommend pissing him off, it won't end well." He then brought his knee up into the man's crotch, making him howl in pain, and then spun around 360 degrees and slashed his neck. Blood spurted everywhere, the man dropped to the ground, realising that he was going through the last few seconds of his life.

Ash fought hard and managed to take out another three people, Jack was slaughtering loads of them, he had already killed eight. He was currently beating away the men who were charging him with one of their comrades! Ash was brought out of his daze be a hammer swing, which he barely avoided. The teen slid under the attacker's legs and stabbed his blade through the man's back, killing him instantly. There were only two people left now, they both looked terrified, Ash saw Jack look at him out of the corner of his eye. The teen looked at his friend and nodded, Jack stuck up his huge thumb and then pounced on the man nearest to him, digging his teeth into his neck and making his friend scream loudly. Just as he was about to stab Jack in the head, Ash tackled him to the ground and threw a punch at his face. Whilst the guy was stunned, Ash finished him off with a stab to the heart.

The raven haired teen stood up and sighed in relief, "Whew! That was close! Oh my god, Jack, you're covered in blood man!" Jack fell backwards onto his rear and pointed at Ash, the teen raised a brow and looked down, he was also covered in blood. None of it was his own, he then began to think, why were they being attacked so often? It had been three days since the had began travelling through this forest and they had already been attacked by bandits six times! He shrugged off these thoughts and looked at Jack, who was looking upwards at the leaves falling from the tall trees above, with a grin. "How many kills did you get?" Jack looked at him with pride in his eyes, he held up all of his fingers and thumbs and put them down, he then held up another two fingers. Ash's grin faded, "Pfff! That's nothing!" Jack raised a brow, and rotated his hand around, gesturing Ash to say his count. The teen suddenly became rather reluctant to talk, "I,um,I-I got...Five" Jack looked at him with a face that said one word, _"Are you being serious...?" _Ash pouted, "Hey! I was tired from travelling, and I don't have the perks of your race!" Jack simply grinned and stood up, Ash did the same, he noticed that Jack had morphed back into his human form. "No wolf form?" Jack shook his head, "Sometimes it's nice to spend some time as Cynthia's race" Ash grinned.

(5 Minutes later)

"Hey, did you find any other healing herbs?" Asked Ash as he met up with Jack at the base of a huge oak tree, his friend nodded, "I found some green herbs, fire petals, salko plants and five blue mushrooms." Ash smiled, "Good, those will be useful." Jack suddenly snapped his head upwards with a serious face, Ash raised a brow, "What's wrong?" Jack didn't answer, he just kept looking from branch to branch, he was searching for something...

The brunette eventually brought his eyes back down and looked at his confused friend, "Sorry, I thought I heard something..." Ash shrugged, "We should probably get back to May and Cynthia, they'll start to worry f we're away for too long..." Jack nodded, "Right, let's go" Little did they know, two people were watching them from the branches above.

(Up in the canopy)

"What are you doing! That guy almost saw you!" Said a pissed off female, her male companion had a confused look on his face as he watched the two humans walk away, "You're right...But how? We're miles above them, no human has eyesight as good as that..." The girl grumbled, "If you were more careful then we wouldn't have to be worried about being seen, It sounds like they were talking about two more people, perhaps they're with a group?" The man looked at her, "We follow them, see if they're a threat" The girl sighed, "Judging from all of those bodies we saw earlier, I would say that they're very dangerous, too bad we missed the fight..." Her companion jumped forward to another branch, "Yeah, but I wana know how they did it, that kid couldn't have taken out all of those guys by himself. Another thing that bothers me is the fact that the man wearing the black trench coat doesn't have any weapons, how did he fight?" The girl followed her companion, jumping from branch to branch, an idea popped into her head. "Perhaps he uses magic?" Her friend didn't look convinced, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see..." He said to himself whilst picking up the speed.

(Back at the camp)

Cynthia giggled as May splashed her with water, the two girls were currently playing 'water wars' as they called it, in a crystal clear river that was flowing past their camp site. The patterns of the trees above were flickering around on the surface of the water, it was the perfect temperature since today was scorching hot. Fortunately, they were shielded from the blistering sun by the trees above, May squealed as Cynthia sent a wave of water over her using her magic. "Hey! No fair, you used magic!" Cynthia giggled, "We never made a rule saying that you couldn't" Another wave washed over May, she got back onto her feet and growled, "That's it Ms rule breaker!" She shouted as she jumped on the blonde haired woman, sending her under water, they both broke the surface and laughed. The sound of rustling bushes made them both freeze, they darted their eyes in the direction of the sound and screamed as Jack, followed by Ash, emerged from the hedge row. The two males noticed that the girls were in their underwear and shrieked, May dived underwater with a scarlet face, Ash spurted blood out of his nostrils and fell backwards, Cynthia squealed and crossed her arms over her chest with a red face and wide eyes and Jack simply dropped his mouth as he saw his childhood friend's body. It was true that they had bathed together when they were kids but that was when they were kids! He took in her features, she had perfect curves and had obviously grown in places that he couldn't tear his eyes away from, her silver eyes met his scarlet ones for a second and quickly darted away. Jack couldn't take it any more, blood gushed from his nose and he fell next to Ash, both of them out for the count.

(Up in the trees)

The girl raised her brow, "What the hell was that? Some kind of attack?" She glanced at her friend to see that he was barely holding back a stream of blood that was leaking from his nose, "Whoa! What the hell! Is it some kind of disease? Is it contagious?" Her friend simply shook his head and wiped his face. "Uh, gross. Anyhow, what's the plan, are we gonna talk to these guys or what?" The Girl put her head on her hands and began to think, "We wait for the sun to go down and the stars to come out, humans can't see as well as us in darkness so if thing go wrong, we can easily escaped." The man nodded, "Sounds like a plan."

(1 hour after sunset)

Ash yawned, everybody had finally calmed down from the incident that happened earlier and were now getting ready to sleep, they were sleeping in cotton sleeping bags tonight since Jack wanted to spend some time as a human. The had already eaten the last of their rations that they brought with them so they planned to find a town in this forest soon, the only problem was that there were none on Jack's map, hunting and gathering was going to be their source of food until they found a town. The raven haired teen was brought out of his thoughts by a firefly that was fluttering around his head, he chuckled and held out his finger, after a while of bobbing around, the insect landed on the perch. "Brave little guy aren't you" He said to the glowing yellow ball, he looked up in front of him to see more fireflies, each a different colour from the one on his finger. The red ones attracted his attention, they seemed to swarm around Jack for some reason, he was trying to catch them in a glass jar. "What are you doing?" He heard Cynthia ask Jack, the man grinned, "These things can live for hours without oxygen, plus they don't need to eat much, they're a perfect light source. Every race that lives in a forest uses them, it's way less noisy and noticeable than fire, way less destructive too." Ash smiled, Jack was a good person to have in this group, he knew a lot about different races and locations. A thought popped into his head, where was May? His question was answered when the brunette came hopping along in her sleeping bag with a swarm of pink fireflies following her, she was screaming. "AHHHHHH, Someone help me! These bugs wana eat me!" Ash chuckled and rolled his eyes, this was going to be a fun journey.

(2 hours later)

A certain raven haired teen was looking up towards the stars, the night sky was like a window, looking into a place with no fear, no law...And no sadness, just calmness and silence. He wondered what was up there, sometimes he and Gary used go to the highest point of the mountain they lived on and try to touch the sky, hoping to meet a never before seen race and learn something that no one else knew. He smiled at these childhood memories, but he then felt sadness as he realised that he may never be able to do those things again, since the humans knew where his village was and that it was in ruins. This quest meant everything to him, this war had been on for too long, it was time for an end...it was time for peace. There had been enough deaths. Someone's gotta take a stand, someone's gotta say no, and refuse to fight, just like Gary. With these thoughts in his head, Ash gradually fell asleep.

(Up in the trees)

"That guy in the trench coat sure is smart, he must be a researcher." Whispered the girl, the man nodded, "We should keep an eye on him, we don't want him to learn too much about us...So, which one are we gonna talk to?" The girl thought for a moment, "How about that guy in the cloak, I'm not getting a dangerous murderer vibe from him" She said whilst pointing at the sleeping form of Ash, the man stroked his growing fuzz under his chin, "I guess, but still keep your guard up, we don't want to end up getting into a fight." His friend nodded and they both began to descend to the ground.

(In the camp)

The girl crouched down next to Ash, he was out cold, his mouth was hanging open with a small drop of drool hanging out. "Gross..." She whispered, he friend chuckled, "I guess he's tired" He replied, the girl was about to shake his shoulder but yelped when she was pulled into his chest, her friend could barely contain his laughter. She was being used as he teddy bear! A small blush appeared on her face as his slightly beefy arms wrapped around her, her blush deepened when she felt a hand on her chest, she quietly yelped when he squeezed slightly. Her friend's eyes were watering as he silently laughed, he had never seen her in this type of situation before, she was completely helpless. She heard the raven haired teen mumble in his sleep, "S...So...Soft" She tried to wriggle out of his grip but was pulled back in and hugged even harder, she looked at his face and blushed slightly, he was quite handsome. She looked at her friend with her face literally screaming "_HELP ME YOU IDIOT!" _He grinned and held up his hands with a shake of his head, this was too fun to end so soon, he might as well get some entertainment for once._  
_

(Ash's dream)

Ash was on the back of Jack with Cynthia and May as they rode through a grassy field, he didn't know where they were or where they were heading but was enjoying the ride so he didn't ask. All of a sudden, Jack came to a stop and everyone hopped off, he followed suit and watched Jack morph back into his human form. He turned to look at the group and clapped his hands together, "Right! Has everyone got their lunch?" Ash was confused, he watched May and Cynthia nod and pull out weird looking orange balls. He heard Jack speak to him, "Oh, it seems you've lost yours Ash, not to worry! I have a spare, here" He said as he handed Ash the same thing that May and Cynthia had, the teen held it up and looked at it, it was a soft orange sphere. "What is it?" He asked curiously, Jack raised a brow, "You don't know? It's a jello ball! The more you squeeze it, the tastier it gets! Give it a try" Ash was still confused but shrugged and squeezed the sphere, he could have swore he heard a small yelp from somewhere but was more focused on the thing he had just squeezed, "S...So...Soft" Jack nodded, "That's just the start, the more times you squeeze, the more taste you get from your meal" Ash carried on squeezing the orange ball.

(In reality)

She could barely keep her moans silent, this guy was massaging her like she was some kind of toy! She couldn't take it any more, she grabbed his head and shook him awake, eyes flickered open and met her green ones. The first thing he said utterly confused her, "Can I eat it now?" Her friend burst out laughing and fell onto his back holding his ribs, she scrambled out of his grip and stood up with her arms crossed, "W-What the h-heck do you think y-your doing! P-P-PERVERT!" Ash was dumbfounded, "What did I do? And wait, who are you?!" He shouted as he stood up and pointed at both of them, the girl jumped back wards with her arms folded over her chest, the man stepped forward, having recovered from his laughter. "We're inhabitants of this forest, we're-" "Scouts?" Ash butted in, the man raised a brow, "Y-Yes, how did you know?" Ash folded his arms, "Well, for a start, that girl has bright green eyes which are unique to scouts and both of you ears pointy and are longer than a human's." The man chuckled, "I see you know some things about how we look, but not our names, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brock Slate, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He said as he held out his hand, Ash grinned, "Your very formal, especially for someone who lives in a forest, I'm Ash Ketchum" Brock chuckled again as Ash shook his hand, "I get that a lot" He turned to his companion, "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" She cringed, "Why would I wana introduce myself to a stinky pervert who rapes innocent girls!" Ash became confused and pissed, "Hey! Since when have I done any of those things? Never, that's when!" She stuck her tongue out at him, adding to his anger, Brock laughed. "You will have to excuse Misty's behaviour, she has quite a temper and tends to say anything that comes to her mind." Ash crossed his arms, "She needs to be put on a leash before she bites someone" Misty swung her arms around, "What was that!"

"So, what do you want?" Asked Ash curiously, he and the two scouts were currently sitting around a fire that Ash had made, Jack, May and Cynthia were still asleep. "Straight to the point huh? Well, at least this will be quick. Basically, we want you to help us out with a swarm of tree launchers that have taken over our village, they arrived two moons ago and we have already lost half of our population. You are aware of what tree launchers are aren't you?" Asked Brock, Ash nodded. Tree launchers are spiders that are the size of horses, they live deep within forests and pounce on anyone who is unfortunate enough to walk below them. The victim is then injected with venom and killed, they are also known for their camouflage ability, anything they are stuck to, a tree for instance, is the pattern that their skin will turn to. It takes a good eye to spot them, since they are almost invisible when motionless. "What makes you think that I could do it?" Questioned the raven haired teen, Misty piped up, "Are you kidding? It's not like we think you can, we just need some expendable forces" She said with her arms crossed and a grin on her face, Ash growled, "Maybe you should be the bait, you fat ass and loud mouth is enough to attract every single one of them!" Misty tried to dive on Ash with her fist ready to fly but the raven haired teen simply side stepped, making her smash face first into a tree, he laughed as she slowly slid towards the ground. She turned around to look at him with a death glare, he face was imprinted with a red pattern of the bark and tiny pellet tears could be seen in her eyes, it took Ash a great amount of effort not to fall to the ground laughing his guts out.

After a few seconds, Ash turned back towards Brock, "What's in it for me?" Brock grinned, "I could see that question coming, don't worry, you will be paid handsomely." Ash thought for a few moments, "How many of them are there?" "At least twenty" The teen backed up slightly, twenty!? That's a lot, even if he and Jack were fighting together, plus they are in their natural environment, it would be a bitch to even land one hit. "Ahhhh, Fine...But I want at least fifty gold pieces!" Brock almost fell backwards, "F-Fifty!?" Ash nodded with a grin, "Hey, this is your village we're talking about, fifty gold pieces is way less tha what your village is worth." Brock stroked his chin, "True...True...Alright fine, fifty gold pieces." Ash nodded, Brock stood up, "We'll be back at sunrise, be ready." Ash nodded again as Brock walked into the forest, followed by Misty, who stuck her tongue out and pulled down her eyelid at the teen before leaving.

Ash walked over to Jack's sleeping bag, the teen shoo him a few times, "Hey, Jack, there's something I need to tell you." He jumped back when Jack sat up and looked directly at him with a serious face, "No need, I heard everything" Ash's mouth dropped, "Really?" The man nodded, "Iv'e known about them since earlier, I would be a failure as a moon shifter if I didn't notice them following us." Ash grinned, "Awesome"

(Early the next morning)

May and Cynthia were still asleep so Ash and Jack decided to go over their plan. "Right, so how are we gonna do this?" Ash Ash, Jack looked at him, "Well, I don't really want these scouts to find out that I'm a moon shifter so I'll be sticking by you for this battle, I think Cynthia has a spare sword in her bag. My hearing is going to be your lifeline, as smart as they are, tree launchers are also stupid. When a potential kill comes along, they have a habit of moving their mouth parts around, producing a quiet clicking sound. If you listen carefully you will be able to hear it, but that's only when everything is silent, it won't be possible in the midst of battle. I will be able to hear it clearly though so I'll point them out before they attack, then you just have to take them down, they're not that tough." Ash nodded as he took in the information, "You seem to know a lot about these things, have you fought them before?" Jack nodded, "Well, I used to live in a forest until I met Cynthia so I had a few run ins." Ash became more curious by the second, "What happened?" Jack grinned, "I ripped them apart and ate them" The teen wanted to puke, "Y-You ate a spider...?" Jack shrugged, "Law of the jungle, I was hungry after a fight and there was a meal right in front of me so I took it." "W-What do they taste like?" Ash asked, not really wanting to know the answer. "It's like eating a biscuit tube with jelly inside, plus a few hairs." Ash scowled,"Gross" "Tasty"

(10 minutes later)

"Are you sure?" Asked a concerned Cynthia, Jack nodded, "Yeah, the scouts are paying us loads to do this, tree launchers aren't that bad, you just need to stay alert." His childhood friend didn't look convinced, she crossed her arms, "I don't care about money, your safety is way more important..." She mumbled, Jack smiled, "Relax, with my senses and Ash's battling skills, we'll be fine. I'll bring you back a head!" Cynthia giggled, Jack had always made jokes like this when things were worrying her, "Oh fine, but make sure you don't get eaten!" Jack chuckled, "Not today"

"But you could be killed!" Shouted a very worried May, Ash waved her off, "Do you really think I'm gonna let a few tree launchers take me down? No way, plus, this is good training for the guards that we're going to face when we go for the jungle king." May jumped in front of him, "Men and spiders are two different things! One is an ugly horrible thing that makes you want to puke whenever your near it, and the other is a spider!" Ash cracked a smile, "Gee thanks" May giggled, "Sorry, couldn't help myself. But seriously, be careful, don't go dying on me or else I'll kill you!" Ash chuckled, "I'll be back soon"

(Away from the camp)

Ash watched Jack swing around the black sword a few times, it was slightly longer than his, the hilt had a sharp spike on the end and was shaped like crow's wings that stretched out to the sides. The blade was black as well and curved up slightly towards the end, there were scarlet jewels planted in a row that went up the middle of the blade, it was extremely sharp. "What's it called?" Asked the teen, Jack grinned, "Raven's fury, sounds cool right?" Ash nodded but then an idea popped into his head, "Does Cynthia like birds?" Jack was confused but nodded, "Yeah, why?" "Well, it's just that both of our swords have birds in their names." Jack shrugged, "If they sound cool then it's okay" Ash chuckled. Jack then became serious, "Just makes sure that you don't get bitten, if the bite doesn't kill you, the venom will. It's extremely powerful and will kill you before your regeneration ability can get rid of it, if you do get injected, you have about a minute and a half to take this" Jack said as he gave Ash a small bottle of glowing pink liquid, "If you don't take it within this time, a side effect takes place which paralyses you, after this has happened, you will spend the last ten seconds of your life paralysed." Ash nodded with a look of unease on his face, the teen tied the small bottle around his neck, "There, that should make it easy to grab"

Ash noticed that Jack didn't have a bottle, "Where's yours?" Jack waved him off, "The only thing that can kill me is silver, if I get bitten, I just need to wait for a couple of minutes" Ash's mouth dropped, "Dude! Your so lucky!" Jack shook his head, "I consider myself unfortunate, I can still feel pain and if I get ripped apart by those things then I can't be put out of my misery, I have to live through the pain." Ash nodded, "I guess...But still, isn't it reassuring? Knowing that you won't be killed?" Jack shrugged, "Iv'e wanted to die many times throughout my life, my only weakness being silver means that I can't die from old age, if I get thrown into a prison, I could be stuck there for eternity." Ash looked at the ground, he didn't know what to say.

After a while of walking, Ash and Jack ran into Brock and Misty, "Oh! Hello there, we were just on our way to get you, I see you brought your friend" Brock said to Ash, the teen nodded, "This is Jack, he's had my back many times in battle before" The tanned man held out a hand to said person, to Ash's surprise, Jack remained motionless, he didn't even blink. "Jack? What's wrong?" Questioned a confused Ash, his friend looked at him with a look of hatred in his eyes, Ash could tell something was up. The brunette looked back at the squinty eyed man, "Show me your weapons" Brock became confused, "May I ask why?" Jack crossed his arms, "After Iv'e seen them" Brock shrugged and held out a sturdy looking bow as well as a few throwing knives, Jack then looked at Misty, who seemed to be hesitating about something. "Your turn" Jack said seriously, Ash was confused but let the scene play out, Misty slowly loosened her rapier from her belt and held it out. Jack looked furious, "All of them..." The girl cursed under her breath and pulled out a familiar looking sword from her pack, she then threw it towards Jack and Ash, Jack picked up the blade and handed it to Ash. "I believe that this belongs to you" Ash's eyes widened, "This is my old sword, but I thought that it was in my pack-" "That's what you have to watch out for" Interrupted Jack, "Scouts are known for stealing things" He glared at Misty, "Especially the females...Brock's job was to act all nice so that you would be distracted" Said person chuckled, "I see that your a sharp one, but how did you know that the sword was in Misty's pack?" Jack grinned, "I saw her going through Ash's things last night, the look on her face when she saw his old sword said it all, there was no way that she was going to part with it" Misty's face was bright red, both from anger and embarrassment. Ash was thankful that Jack was on his side.

Brock folded his arms, "Be that as it may, we still need help with our village, will you help us?" Jack looked at Ash who nodded, "Fine, but I'm adding twenty gold pieces to the price as punishment for that little theft you tried to pull off." Brock's mouth dropped and Misty bellowed at them, "T-Twenty!?" Ash grinned, "It's your own fault, take it or leave it" The two scouts looked at each other, Misty shook her head vigorously but Brock just sighed, "Fine, have it your way..." Ash looked at Jack and held up his hand, his friend chuckled and high fived him.

The group arrived at the base of a large tree, Brock turned around and looked at Ash and Jack, "Our village is just up ahead, it's a group of tree houses, we already have reinforcements up in the trees. We're about to start the attack" Ash grinned, "Let's kill some bugs" Jack nodded and looked upwards, "But how do we get up there?" Misty shook her head, "No need, our job is to knock those bastards off, when they hit the ground, it's up to you two." Jack drew his sword, "What about the ones that are around the perimeter of the village, there's bound to be some on the surrounding trees" Misty shrugged, "You'll have to figure something out, we can't do everything." Ash sighed, this was going to be a pain in the ass fight, he could tell.

(The attack is about to start)

The raven haired teen drew his sword and looked upwards, he was waiting for the shout from several scouts, he looked at Jack, who was crouched down and looking in several different directions. "Are there any near bud?" The man nodded, "There's two up ahead near the base of that huge oak tree, I can smell three others that are further ahead" Ash nodded, he looked at the tree that Jack was talking about, the trunk was as wide as a line of four horses. It was true that the tree launchers' camouflage ability was good, he couldn't see anything at all. He waited for a few more minutes and then heard Brock's voice break the silence, "ATTACK!" The teen started running towards the huge trunk of the oak tree, Jack was right behind him, "Here they come! One of them is heading right for you!" Shouted Jack, Ash saw it, a huge wooden looking spider flying through the air towards him. It's legs were outstretched and its fangs glinted in the sunlight, Ash dived to the side to avoid being grabbed by the creature. He did a forward roll and then spun around, he lunged forward with a right side sweep, the sword slashed two of the spider's eight eyes, making it roar in pain. The creature swiped one of its legs to the left and tripped Ash up, it then jumped on top of him, pushing down with its fangs going for his chest. The teen yelled as he gouged out two more of its eyes with his thumbs, the spider reared back with a sharp hissing noise, Ash took the opening and shoved his sword into its chest. The spider squealed as it was pushed upwards and then thrown to the ground, the teen started stabbing the animal several times in the abdomen, "Take that you bastard!" He shouted as he ended the spider's life, he then fell onto his rear, panting from the amount of effort.

Ash looked to his left just in time to watch Jack slice off two of the other spider's legs and then stab it in the head, Ash saw two puncture holes in his left shoulder. "Oh my god! Jack, you got bit!" The man nodded and scratched the back of his head with a grin, "I guess I'm more used to fighting as a werewolf..." The raven haired teen stood up and ran over to his friend, "What does it feel like? Are you okay?" Jack shook his head, "My forehead feels hot and my vision is blurry, I'll be paralysed in a minute, after that, my regeneration will clean stuff up." Ash nodded although he was still worried.

After a short amount of time, Jack fell to the ground, Ash tried to pull him back up but he was completely stiff. A few seconds later Jack slowly got up from the ground, "ugh...Venom...Is...A bitch..." He said slowly, Ash went over and gave him a shoulder to lean on, "Thanks man, but seriously, don't get bitten. You can drink half of that stuff to survive" Said Jack whilst pointing to the bottle that was around Ash's neck, "And the other half if you get bitten again but after that, that's it. I made that antidote with ingredients that I spent three years searching for, I can't just whip up another one." Ash nodded, "Can't you buy these ingredients from a shop?" Jack shook his head, "They're extremely rare, one of them being a dragon scale, it took me ages to find a dragon and a great amount of skill to take one of its scales whilst it was sleeping. Do you have any idea how bad one of their lairs smells?" As shook his head as he sat Jack down on a rock, "Well, imagine rotted horse shit mixed with a rotted corpse and then mixed with puke." Ash cringed, "That sounds unbearable" Jack chuckled, "And I have increased levels of smell, I could smell it a mile away, literally..."

Ash slid under the spider's body with his blade standing up, cutting open its under body, making all of its organs and insides spill out. Jack reared back as his target tried to push him over, he then brought his foot up into a harsh kick and knocked the creature backwards, it hit the ground with a loud thud and started to squirm around, struggling to get up. The brunette sliced off all of its legs and slashed his sword down into its head, killing it instantly. Ash's eyes went wide when he saw a spider running towards Jack from behind, "Jack! Duck!" The man understood and dropped down as Ash's sword sailed over him and embedded itself in the spider's head.

Ash could see the village now, up in the trees, he could see scouts jumping around and fighting off tree launchers. He noticed Brock, he was charging towards a spider that was trying to climb up further into the tree that he was standing on, the man threw three small steel blades at the spider, all of them hit and buried themselves in its flesh. The creature hissed as it slowly lost its grip and fell to its death. Ash then saw Misty, she was leaping from one branch to the next, slashing spiders as she did so. All of her targets were falling to the ground and dying from the impact, that was if her attack didn't kill them first. Ash looked at Jack who nodded, he grinned as the carried on moving towards the base of the tree that the main tree house was built around, there were several rope ladders leading up to it.

Ash began to climb up the ladder, Jack was climbing up the one that was next to his, Ash could hear a lot of noise coming from above. There were the sounds of men screaming and the sounds of spiders hissing as well as something else, a deeper, more fierce hiss. Ash didn't like the sound of it but he carried on climbing.

(At the entrance to the village meeting hall)

Ash's mouth dropped and Jack's eyes widened, sitting in front of them was a tree launcher that was three times the size of all of the other ones they had seen. Ash looked at Jack and he nodded, "It's their queen, she must have thought that this was a nice place to set up a nest..." Ash could see the bodies of scouts that had attempted to take her out, they were lying in pieces around he legs. The teen thought for a moment, "If we don't take her out, her followers won't leave, right?" Jack nodded, "That's right..." Ash shrugged, "Then I guess it's time to end her time of being queen" He held out his sword, Jack also took a battle stance and followed Ash forwards.

Ash dodged the huge sweep of the queen's leg and slashed her front right leg off, Jack cut off the left front leg as well. She squealed and tried to bite Ash, the teen jumped backwards and then leaped onto her head, whilst she was distracted by Ash, Jack ran in a full circle around her, cutting off all of her legs as he did so. The spider fell to the ground, unable to move, she simply snapped her mouth parts wildly. Jack looked at Ash, "Finish it off" The teen nodded, he slowly lifted up his sword and then brought it down into the queen's head, she hissed and squealed in pain but eventually died. Ash jumped off of the corpse and high fived Jack, the man chuckled, "Good job, we make a great team" Ash grinned, "Guess what" Jack became confused, "What?" Ash puffed out his chest, "You killed two...And I killed three HA!" Jack laughed and smiled, "I guess you win this one..."

(After the battle)

Brock smiled and handed over seventy gold pieces, "Don't spend it all in one place..." Ash grinned, "Don't let bugs kick you out of your home" Brock chuckled, from all around, Ash could hear scouts whispering to each other. "Isn't that the guy that killed the queen tree launcher?" "Yeah, doesn't that mean that he's a hero or something?" "His friend helped as well, they're like an ultimate team..." Ash smiled, he liked the sound of that, _Hero_...

(Back at camp)

Jack yawned as he broke through the bushes that lined one side of their camp, Ash smiled, "Guess we're not travelling today huh?" Jack shook his head, "No, we're still going to travel, I want to get as far as possible before winter arrives, it's almost the end of autumn..." Ash nodded, "Okay, let's go get the girls" The two friends walked over to May and Cynthia, they were talking about typical girl stuff, they both smiled when Ash and Jack arrived. "How did it go?" Asked May, Ash grinned, "We got seventy gold pieces!" Cynthia frowned, "I thought that you didn't care about money" Ash nodded, "I don't, but it will make this journey easier so I'm still happy whenever we get some." Jack spoke up, "Are we ready to go?" May and Cynthia nodded, he grinned, "Right, next stop, jungle kingdom!" He said as he morphed into his wolf form, Cynthia hopped on first, then May and then Ash. Once everyone was on, Jack took off into a fast run, Ash looked up towards the mid day sun. _"Look out jungle king, here we come!"_

**_Thanks for reading, I hope you al enjoyed this chapter, as you can see, we learned a little bit more about the different types of species that live in this world. Hope that it was interesting and not boring, criticism is welcome, ideas, opinions and predictions. Reviewing helps a lot, once again, thanks! Until next time!_**


	6. Chapter 6

**We join our heroes as they are currently making their way through a jungle towards the jungle kingdom (Wonder why it's called that...)**

"Ugh, it's so hot!" Moaned May as she slumped on Jack's back, said person wasn't doing much better than her, her was panting like crazy. His thick fur made him feel like he was being cooked alive, he had resulted to walking since running would make him fry. Ash sighed, "Even though it's almost winter, this place is still boiling..." Cynthia nodded, "Some kingdoms aren't affected by season change" Suddenly, Jack's ears perked up, "What is it Jack?" Asked May, although she didn't get an answer, Jack simply picked up the pace.

The group made it to the top of a small hill and saw a huge river below, they all took a breath of awe, except Jack since he already knew that it was there. Ash cheered, "Yes! Finally, we can cool down, the water looks great!" May laughed, "It's beautiful, look at the trees lining the edge, it looks so peaceful" Cynthia smiled, "The water looks safe to drink from, as well as swim in, let's go cool off" At that, Jack walked towards the edge of the river, once he got there, the group jumped off and took off the top layers of their clothes. Cynthia and May wore white blouses and with black shorts and Ash changed into a pair of dark blue shorts in a, Jack stayed in his wolf form and dived straight in.

The bight sunlight shined on the surface of the water, giving it an array of different shades of blue, the river bed was made out of thousands of pearly white pebbles. The edges of the river were lined with trees that had overhanging branches, they lightly touched the surface of the water, creating small ripples on the slow moving river. The temperature was perfect and the water was around a metre deep, Jack was too big to submerge fully so he transformed back into his human form and went to change into a pair of black shorts.

Cynthia sighed, "This is the life, not a worry in the world, just time to relax" May giggled as she watched a small silver fish swim around her ankles, "Don't forget about our quest, we can't just let Ash or Jack go off without us" The woman smiled and looked at her, "May" The brunette brought her sapphire eyes up to meet her silver ones, "Yes?" Cynthia's smile turned into a sly one, "Do you like Ash?" The princess' face turned scarlet and she suddenly found more interest in the river bed, "W-Why would you a-ask that?" She shouted frantically, earning a chuckle from Cynthia.

Ash was browsing the river bed, the teen was looking for any interesting stones or gems, he looked up and noticed something pink hanging from a branch that was just above the water. He raised a brow, "Wonder what that is..." The raven haired boy waded over to the object, as he got closer, he saw that it was a sphere shaped fruit. He plucked it off of the branch and took a bite, being stupid enough not to check if it was poisonous or not...Luckily, it wasn't, but it did taste very sweet. He grinned, "This is good!" He said to himself as he plucked off a few more and headed towards May and Cynthia, "Hey! Guys, you've gotta try this!" He said as he handed Cynthia one, the woman took the fruit and sniffed it, "I swear Iv'e seen this somewhere before...Oh well" She said as she bit into the soft fruit, May took the fruit as well, her blush still visible on her face. The brunette took a bite and squealed, "It's delicious!" Ash's grin widened, the teen was proud of his discovery, he headed over to Jack.

Jack was watching the different types of birds that would cross over the river every now and then, he licked his lips a few times whenever he saw a fat one, Large amounts of splashing brought him out of his thoughts. "Hey, Jack! Try this!" Said the teen as he was running towards him, unfortunately, Ash slipped and fell face first into the warm water. The fruits he was holding bobbed to the surface and slowly floated downstream towards the brunette, he picked one up and looked closely at it, Ash broke through the surface and noticed that he was holding the fruit. "Go on, it's really tasty!" Jack's eyes suddenly widened, "Ash, you haven't eaten any of these have you!?" The teen raised a brow, "Yeah, why?" Jack sighed, "Oh man...Do you know what these things are?" The teen shook his head whilst scratching the back of his neck, "These are bomba fruits... they're seventy percent alcohol..." Ash flinched, "S-Seventy!?" Jack nodded with a distressed look on his face, "If it's only you then we're fine, your regeneration will stop you from being drunk" Ash awkwardly laughed, "Y-Yeah...Ha...If it's only me then it's fine..." Jack raised a brow, "Don't tell me you-" "Gave some to May and Cynthia...Yeah..." Jack slapped his hand to his forehead, "We're gonna have one heck of a day..."

(After sunset)

The sun had disappeared behind the horizon but the temperature had only lowered slightly, Jack and Ash were sitting around a fire, far enough away to not feel the heat. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of insects and nocturnal animals in the jungle, the crackling fire, the slow flowing of water from the river...And the sounds of random gibberish coming from May and Cynthia...May was currently giving her opinions about the jungle to a rock and was kicking it for not responding, Cynthia on the other hand, was pressing herself against Jack's back with her arms around his chest. "H-Hey...*Hiccup* H-How...Does that t-thing...in your pants work...I-If you like *Hiccup* Bang a human...D-Do you get p-puppies or *Hiccup* baby people?" Ash looked at Jack and chuckled, he had his arms crossed and a pissed look on his face, as well as a small blush. Cynthia started playing with his ears, "I-I'm...gonna call you *hiccup* fluffy...c-cuz your s-so cute!" Jack sighed, "I think I should put her to sleep, she's going to end up hurting herself if she stays awake" Ash nodded, "That's a good idea" Jack stood up and turned to face Cynthia, she giggled and stumbled up to him, she reaked of alcohol. "S-So you are the m-murderer! You *Hiccup* Are goin to jail for a l-long time, b-buddy boy!" Jack put his arms on her shoulders, "I think it's time you went to sleep" Cynthia looked at him with a face that said, _"__Are you being serious?" _"W-What, you gonna pull a fast one on me *hiccup*" She slurred, Jack rolled his eyes and ignored her vulgar comment, he transformed into his werewolf form and Cynthia's eyes widened. "P-Puppy!" She cheered as she chased after Jack, who was heading towards her sleeping bag.

Ash laughed, it was like Cynthia had a whole other side to her, he looked over at May. She was now punching a tree and shouting curses about a bush head guy, whoever that was. The teen stood up and walked over to her, she noticed him and stumbled over, stopping just in front of him. "H-Hey! You! Are you a man!?" Ash became confused, "Yeah...Why?" May put her hands on her hips and spoke in a deeper voice than her normal girly one, "Prove it bitch! Head butt that guy!" She said whilst pointing at a tree, Ash raised a brow, this was the exact opposite of May. A tom boy who was loud mouthed and had a huge ego, May was a relatively shy girl who had a caring personality. "Show me how manly you are, do it!" The teen shrugged and walked over to the thick trunk, he moved some vines out of the way and looked at May, she crossed her arms. "I'm waiting, you scared?" Ash rolled his eyes and smashed his forehead into the bark, the impact created a small crack, Ash didn't even flinch. May clapped her hands slowly, "I guess you do have a pair" The raven haired teen turned to face her, "I think you should rest now-" He was interrupted by he babbling, "Hey, how many bears have you killed with your fists?" Ash's mouth dropped and his brows furrowed, "Wha?" May started stroking her chin, "My score is twenty, beat that sissy" Ash sighed, "Come on, go to sleep" He said as he started pushing her towards her sleeping bag, "Get off man! Or else I'll crack that thick skull of yours!" Ash was shocked at how violent this side of May was, he scooped her up and carried her the rest of the way, she suddenly became very quiet. "I miss my family..." That caught Ash off guard, he put her down in her sleeping bag and looked at her. He was surprised when she crawled under the covers and growled at him, "Stop lookin at me! Do you want me to gouge out those eyes?!"

Ash was laying in his sleeping bag, looking up at the night sky, most of it being hidden by the jungle's trees above. For some reason, he couldn't shake off a bad feeling that he had. Back in Petalburg city, a certain prince was furious.

(In the palace)

"I don't fucking care! Find them! I know that brown haired bitch is with them! We can't have a moon shifter running amok, my useless father was supposed to have wiped them all out!" Bellowed a very pissed off prince as he slammed his fist on the huge oak table in the meeting room, his name was Drew, or according to May, Bush head. He was still furious at her for running away, he treated her so well! The teen's advisor, Harley, crossed his arms. "I know right? She just up and left you, but in other news, not only has a moon shifter been spotted but an aura user has as well! May, the aura user and another woman were seen riding out of the city towards the exit of the kingdom." Drew growled, "I'm gonna slit both of their necks, right in front of her, the other woman can be my toy..." He said darkly with a menacing laugh that echoed around the cold stone room, Harley grinned, "We had reports from some bandits we bribed in the forest that they were heading towards the jungle kingdom" Drew cursed, "Do they know of my father's plan?" Harley nodded, "Most likely, a servant caught them going through his belongings after they killed him" The prince grinned, "Well, let's go and tie up some loose ends..."

(Back with our heroes)

Ash was about to fall asleep until he noticed a dark figure slowly rising up into a crouching position to his left, it was Jack. Once he was up, he began to sneak over towards the teen, he was moving cautiously, taking care with every step. Was he trying to remain undetected? Once he got close enough, he nudged Ash slightly, "Ash, don't move or make any noise" He whispered, "We're being watched...It's not an animal, it smells like a human, I can't see them, they must be hiding in the bushes." Ash was aware of Jack's night vision, the teen nodded, knowing that his friend could see him clearly. "I think they know that I'm a moon shifter, they're using coverings for their skin that makes it hard for me to find their scent." Ash looked towards the bushes, he couldn't see much since it was almost pitch black, apart from the moonlight that was mostly being blocked out by the trees above. "What do we do?" Ash whispered back, he saw Jack look around, "They don't seem like they're going to attack, maybe they're studying us..." Ash slowly sat up and scratched his growing stubble under his chin, "Could be some kind of jungle dweller" Jack nodded slowly, "Maybe they're lost...But why wait till night fall? I caught a whiff of their scent earlier but they ran away..." Ash heard a twig snap in the bush, the person was moving, he looked at jack with a confused look on his face. "Further away" He whispered simply, "Maybe we should follow them?" Jack seemed to think about this, after a while, he slowly nodded. "Okay, but we can't be away for long..."

(In the darkness)

Ash stumbled for the third time, walking through a jungle with no light wasn't exactly easy...He was trying to be as quiet as possible since Jack was tracking their target using his hearing. The pair broke through the undergrowth and walked into a grassy clearing at the edge of a cliff, Ash could see tiny dots of orange in the distance. "Is that the jungle kingdom?" He asked curiously in a quiet whisper, "Yeah" Replied Jack, still focused on following the mysterious person.

Ash took in the view, it was beautiful, the river that they were camping by ran over the edge of this cliff and all the way to the jungle kingdom. The moonlight reflected off of the surface of the distant river, making it look like a silver road. The teen looked at Jack, it was easier for him to see his friend here since there were no trees. The man sighed and walked back over to Ash, "They're close, but they've done something to their scent, probably rolled around in some mud. Tracking by scent isn't an option any more and there are too many noises in this jungle for me to pick up the quiet footsteps of who ever we're following..." Ash crossed his arms, "Damn, if they know that your a moon shifter then that could be a problem...Perhaps it was a thief, or a spy!" Jack sat down at the edge of the cliff and let his legs hang over the edge, Ash did the same. "They were probably a human spy from their kingdom, they must have been leading soldiers to us..." Ash nodded, they both sat in silence for a while, listening to the roaring of the waterfall and the sounds of the jungle night life.

Jack randomly asked a question, "How do you deal with it?" The raven haired teen became confused, "Deal with what?" Jack looked at him with a slight look of sadness in his eyes, "You know, your race being close to extinction..." Ash smiled, "I think about the people who lived in my village, Gary, my mom and others too. I think about how I can stop the killing by finishing this quest." Jack grinned, the teen returned the question, "How do you deal with it?" The man scratched his stubble, "Go on hunts or talk to Cynthia..." Ash became confused, "How about other moon shifters?" Jack's face suddenly shaded over, "I-I...can't do...That" Ash could tell that this was bugging him but wanted to know more, "Why...Not?" Jack sighed and went silent for a few seconds, he supported his head with one of his arms and spoke slowly, "I'm...The last one..." Ash's eyes widened, "Really?!" Jack simply nodded, "It happened when I was a kid..."

(Jack's memory)

In a far away mountain range, a certain brown haired child was receiving a scalding from his mother. "How many times have I told you? Don't go messing around with mountain goats! Just because you've learned how to transform doesn't mean you can beat everything that comes your way, you need to learn when a fight is too difficult for you jack..." Said a woman who had light brown hair that went down to her waist, she was wearing grey trousers with a black tunic and a pair of black boots. Her eyes were burgundy colour and had a look of anger in them, as well as a hint of worry. Her name was Krista. "Do you understand? Jack?" She asked, becoming worried when she didn't get an answer, she crouched down and put her hands on the boy's shoulders.

He looked into her eyes with his scarlet ones, tiny tears could be seen in his eyes, "But dad would have been proud! Never back down! That's what he always said!" The subject of her husband silenced the woman, her face turned to one of sadness, "I know that you want to make your daddy happy sweet heart, but that doesn't mean that you have to put yourself at such a risk." She looked him over, he was wearing a grey shirt with brown trousers and a pair of brown sandals, he was covered in cuts and bruises, his hair had bits of dust and dirt in it. He was five years old and already had that glint of confidence in his eyes that his father had, sadly he was now deceased. He had been killed by a raid that had taken place on his camp whilst in the human kingdom with his resistance crew.

They boy looked towards the ground, "I'm gonna get strong and go to the army" He mumbled, his mother sighed, "Not before you take a bath, off you go!" She said as she nudged him up the stairs, earning childish giggles from her son. She smiled, she was secretly proud of her son, he was acting just like his father did when he was his son's age. A scream from outside made her spin around and run to the window, through the decorated glass, she could see several moon shifters fighting against humans that were storming through the village gate. A look of horror appeared on her face when she saw the local shop keeper, in his werewolf form, get stabbed by a sword in his chest. He fell to the ground and didn't get up, "Oh no..." She whimpered, she looked at her hands, they were shaking violently.

The woman turned around and ran upstairs, she reached the top and saw that her son was just coming out of the bathroom, "Honey! Come here!" The boy tilted his head in confusion but obeyed and walked over to his mother, he was scooped up and taken downstairs. "Mommy, what's going on?" He asked confusedly, the woman looked at her child as she ran, "S-Some bad people have arrived, we need to get you out of here" The boy frowned, "But daddy wouldn't run...I want to fight!" The child then wriggled out of his mother's grip and ran towards the sounds of battle, morphing into a werewolf the size of a child as he did so. "No! Jack, come back, it's too dangerous!" A woman that was running past stopped and took her arm, "Come on! We can't stay here, the woman and children need to evacuate, we can't let the men risk their lives for nothing!" Krista shook her head, "I can't, my son just ran towards them!" The woman's mouth dropped, "You better be careful, good luck!" She shouted as she continued to run with the other people.

"What the hell is this thing?" Said a soldier as he picked up a werewolf that was considerably smaller than all of the others he had killed, it took it's chance and scratched the man's eye, he bellowed in pain. "Gah! You little shit! Die!" He threw the wolf to the ground, making it yelp in pain, he then stepped on it and started adding more weight. Other soldiers stood around and laughed, suddenly, the man who was stepping on the wolf had his head ripped off from behind. His corpse slammed into the ground, revealing a normal sized wolf that was snarling at the soldiers, they all jumped back. The bigger wolf picked up the smaller one and started to run, "After that bastard!" Shouted one of them as they all roared battle cries and began to chase their target.

Krista rounded a corner and put Jack down in a barrel, she transformed back into her human form and so did he, "Mom? What are you doing!?" His mother smiled sadly at him, "I'm protecting you...Stay in here, you'll be safe." She leaned down and planted a kiss on his forehead, "But what about you?" He asked worriedly, his mother let loose a few tears, "I don't think I will be able to see you again...*sob*...Stay safe honey, make friends, protect them. I only wish could have seen you grow up..." She said as she broke down into full out crying, before her son could say anything else, she closed the lid in the barrel and ran down the alleyway.

The soldiers rounded the corner and spotted their target at the end of the alleyway, "Hehehe, dead end..." Said one evilly, another one laughed as he drew his sword, "Looks like it's the end for you..." The all charged towards the wolf, it was snarling at them as it grew its claws to twice their original size. The next things that Jack heard from inside the barrel, was the sound of two men being killed, and the cry from a werewolf. He was too terrified to move, when he heard the soldiers leave, he launched out of the barrel, only to see his mother's corpse.

(End of Jack's memory)

Ash's eyes were wide, "I'm so sorry..." Jack laughed, a cold, empty laugh that made him seem as if he didn't even care. "I was weak...I couldn't save her, so from that day on, I made a vow. If I made any friends, I would guard them with my life. Nobody made it out of that village...I went to check the place that we were told to evacuate to, I only found corpses...That was the last group of moon shifters that existed, we had all agreed to live together so that we could keep track of how many of us were left...Guess that was a bad idea huh?" Ash threw a rock over the edge of the cliff, "I can sort of relate, I lost my mother to humans when they attacked my village, only a few of us survived..." Jack smiled, "I don't want to die...Not because I want to live forever, but because I don't want my race to be forgotten. It can't end like this, I need to pass on the legacy..." Ash raised a brow, "Is it possible to breed with humans?" Jack looked up at the stars, "I don't know...My offspring's powers may be severely weakened by having a human mother, they may even just turn out as normal humans." Ash sighed, "Probably the same with me..." Jack looked at him with a grin on his face, "You upset about not being able to bang someone?" Ash's face went scarlet, he waved his hands around as he tried to defend himself, "N-N-N-NO, I-I was j-just wondering..." Jack chuckled.

Not very far away, two figures were crouched in the bushes, watching the teen and his friend. "I'm certain of it!" Said the one furthest to the right, his companion looked at him, "Are you sure?" He nodded, "That guy managed to follow us, even though we already had coated ourselves in mud and were sneaking. He's a moon shifter, probably the last!" his friend looked back at the pair, "Who's the other guy?" The first one shrugged, "I dunno, probably his travelling partner, as well as those women." The second one laughed quietly, "We finally found one huh? Can't wait to tell our brother about this!" The first figure began to sneak away, "Come on, let's get a head start to the jungle kingdom, that's where they're probably heading." His friend nodded and they both slipped into the darkness.

(A few days later)

Ash, Jack, May and Cynthia made their way into the jungle kingdom's walls. It was a beautiful looking city, the buildings were crafted out of white stone and were slightly covered in vines, they were standing in a wide open courtyard that was lined with market stalls. In the distance, the could see the spire of the temple palace, the location of their next target. Ash looked around, he could see many different races that were talking and exchanging goods with each other. To the group's left was a tavern that was producing a lot of noise, to their right were many market stalls, their owners yelling about how their prices were better than their neighbour's. "Wow...This place is busy!" Said May with a look of awe on her face, Jack nodded as he looked around, "Indeed, the jungle kingdom is one of the kingdoms that is known for it's trading. Lot's of different races come here to get things that are not obtainable in their own kingdoms." Cynthia noticed a big group of people that were crowded around something, they were cheering and throwing money into the centre. "What's going on over there?" She asked as she pointed towards the crowd, Ash shrugged, "Let's go take a look."

As the group arrived, they saw that two bulky looking men were circling each other in the middle of the mob of people, one man threw a punch that was countered by the other. "Look's like competitive fighting, the winner probably gets whatever these people throw into the ring." Jack said as one man was thrown to the ground and then jumped on by the other. Ash noticed a grin on Jack's face, "Something tells me that you wanna take part." The man scratched the back of his head and nodded, "Yeah..." Cynthia frowned, "I don't think so! It's too dangerous" Jack sighed, "I can take these guys..." The were interrupted by a deep rumbling voice, "What was that?" The group looked towards the sound of the voice, it was the winner of the previous fight, he was looking at them with anger in his eyes. "You think you can take me? Care to prove it?" Jack's grin appeared again, as well as a determined look in his eyes, "Gladly..." He said slowly as he took off his trench coat and handed it to Cynthia, she looked anxious but still took the coat.

Jack rolled up his shirt's sleeves, the man laughed, "You look like a weak buiseness man" It was kind of true, Jack was wearing a white shirt, black trousers and black boots with a black hat that resembled an aura guardian's hat but without the symbol. The brunette chuckled, "And you look like a sweaty meat bag who's begging for a good beating" The crowd made different sounds at Jack's remark, some laughed, some gasped and others roared in excitement. Jack looked his opponent over, he was a bulky looking human who had sandy blonde hair and amber coloured eyes. He had a few scars on his chest and arms, his face was red and he was covered in sweat, probably from previous fights and the heat of the sun that was blazing down on the both of them. A short dumpy man in a suit stepped in between the both of them, "The rules are simple gents! No weapons or magic, stay inside the ring and the first one to loose conciousness looses. This fight is between Lucas Golding and..." He said whilst looking at Jack, "Jack Nightblood" He said confidently, Ash and May became confused, "Is that Jack's second name?" Asked May, Cynthia nodded, "He's quite proud of it as well, he's not afraid to let everyone know...He can be quite reckless sometimes..." She said as she looked at her childhood friend's confident face, Ash smiled, "It sounds cool"

"Begin!" Shouted the short man, he barely avoided Lucas as he charged towards Jack, attempting to knock him to the ground. The brunette waited till the last moment and then sidestepped, he stuck out his foot and watched his opponent go flying to the ground, he landed just inside the ring. As he got to his feet and turned around, his face was met with a swing from Jack's foot, the force made him slam into the ground, he recovered by rolling and stopping in a crouching position. Ash, May and Cynthia cheered but were drowned out by the other cheers from the crowd. Ash laughed, "I didn't know that Jack was this good at hand to hand to combat" Cynthia took a break from cheering and smiled, "It's one of his areas of expertise" Her statement was proven as Lucas wrapped his arms around Jack's waist and lifted him up, he was quickly countered by Jack's elbow which was smashed down onto his head, he roared in pain and backed up.

Lucas' balance was beginning to fail as he stumbled around slightly, Jack took up the attack by charging forward and directing his opponent's weak punch to his left, the brunette then slugged him with his right hand and kicked him in the stomach. The crowd was going wild, Lucas had fought twenty opponents and won all of his battles but this guy had come out of nowhere and kicked his ass. The human was panting heavily, he had one hand on his stomach and the other was hanging by his side, what made it worse was that his opponent had barely broken a sweat. He roared a battle cry as he charged towards Jack, the brunette held up his fists and crouched slightly. Once Lucas was close enough, he dodged the man's arm swing and swept him off his feet using a leg spin. Whilst he was still in the spin, Jack jumped into the air and brought his elbow down on Lucas' forehead, knocking him out cold and finishing the fight.

The crowd roared as the final blow was dealt, the threw their gold coins into a pot that was then given to jack, he grinned and thrust his fist into the air, earning more cheers. He returned to his friends, Cynthia smiled at him, "Happy now?" Jack nodded with a bigger grin on his face, "That was fun" May clapped her hands together, "That was great Jack! I never knew you could fight like that!" The man smiled, "Thanks May" Ash chuckled, "You have to teach me how to do that" Jack laughed as well, "You can teach me how to use a sword in return then" Ash held out his hand, "Deal" They both said as they shook on it with determined looks in their eyes.

(10 Minutes later)

Ash was browsing the market stalls when he caught something out of the corner of his eye, three cloaked figures were leaning against the wall of a local bath house, they seemed to be watching Jack. The teen couldn't see their faces or any weapons that they had since they were wearing cloaks, he made sure his hood was covering his face and slowly made his way over to Jack, who was discussing whether to buy a necklace or not for Cynthia with May. Ash acted like a normal person and went to look at things on the same stall as Jack, "Don't act like you know me, just carry on with what your doing." He said quietly to Jack, who winked with a tiny nod. "Don't look, but there's three cloaked guys over by the bath house, they're watching you every move for some reason..." Ash could tell that his friend was thinking since he was staring at seemingly nothing. May had heard this as well, "I'll go and see if I can eavesdrop on them" She said whilst acting like she had lost interest in the stall and walked away.

May slowly Made her way over to a bench that was near enough to the figures to hear them but not be noticed. They didn't see her since their eyes were locked on Jack, May sat down and listened until she heard one of them speak. "Is that the guy?" The other nodded, "Yeah bro, that's him, I'm pretty sure he's a moon shifter." May's eyes widened, if this information got out, Jack could be in trouble. "Maybe we should turn him in to the king, we could get a lot of gold for doing it." A person sat down next to May, she glanced at them and could tell from the body build that it was a male. He was wearing an outfit similar to Jack's except it was blue, he didn't have a hat, a scarf was around the bottom part of his face and his shirt was black, he also had grey trousers. His hair was purple and his eyes were black, he was slouched forward with his hands together, he seemed to be staring at the ground. May's attention was directed back to the cloaked figures when one of them spoke again, "Nah, I wanna meet this guy, we saw how well he can fight. He could be useful. We can't just let a moon shifter go like that." The man that had sat next to May stood up and walked away, the figures began to walk towards Jack and Ash. May stood up and followed.

Jack felt someone tap his shoulder, he turned and was met by the darkness of someone's hood. He raised a brow, "Can I help you?" The hooded figure chuckled, "Indeed you can, we would like to ask you a few questions, but not here..." He said whilst looking around, Jack looked at Ash, the teen nodded at him. "I'll be bringing my companions with me" One other figures nodded, "That's fine" Jack turned towards Ash, "Could you go find Cynthia?" Ash nodded, "Sure" The teen the turned and ran to look for the blonde haired woman.

(In the 'magic items' part of the market)

Ash had found Cynthia purchasing what seemed to be an orange gem, he raised a brow and walked over to her, "What's that?" He asked curiously, Cynthia smiled when she noticed Ash, "Oh, hi Ash, this is a telepathy seed. If something that can't talk eats it, then it gains the ability to talk to people using its mind." Ash grinned, "Sounds cool, but who are you going to use it on?" Cynthia smiled again, "Jack of course" Ash remembered his mission, "Oh, yeah! Cynthia, Jack asked me to come get you, these guys in cloaks said they want to talk to him in a private place." A look of concern appeared on Cynthia's face, "Guys in cloaks?" Ash nodded, she put the telepathy stone in her pocket, "Right, let's go"

(Back with Jack)

May looked at Jack, he didn't seem to be concerned about these guys, she on the other hand was feeling slightly afraid. The sight of Ash and Cynthia calmed her down slightly, "Okay, your friends are here, now let's go." Jack nodded with a serious look on his face.

The three cloaked figures led the group to a restaurant, it was made out of the same material as all of the other buildings but was decorated with several different flags and banners, making it look very formal. Jack, Ash, May and Cynthia stepped through the front doors and could see that there were lots of people inside, mainly girls, that were being waited on by different butlers. Ash raised a brow as the group followed the cloaked figures into a side room, they stepped inside and saw that the walls, floor and ceiling were all made out of marble. In the centre of the room was a large wooden table, the figures gave the group a motion to sit, they did so and Jack spoke up. "So what have you called me here for?" The middle figure spoke up, "First, allow us to introduce ourselves." Jack crossed his arms and nodded. All at the same time, the figures pulled off their cloaks, revealing a blue haired on to the left, a red haired one to the right and a green haired one in the middle. The green haired one spoke first, "Pleasure to meet you, my name is Cilan" The red haired one spoke next, "How ya doing? My name's Chili!" The blue haired one spoke last, "Nice to make your acquaintance, my name is Cress."

Ash raised a brow again, "Butlers?" Cilan chuckled, "No no, We are connoisseurs" Jack became confused, "So what do you want with me?" Chile crossed his arms, "Humph, well, we are aiming to be grade A connoisseurs in race culture. Of course, to do that, we need to ask the races about their culture. We are aware of you being a moon shifter so we would like to ask you a few questions about your culture, you being a moon shifter will be kept secret of course." Jack sighed and nodded, "Fine, but let's make this quick." The three brothers nodded.

(After a few questions)

The sound of the front door being kicked in brought the group to alert, they could hear the voices of guards, "Moon shifter! We know your in here! By order of the king, surrender now!" Jack cursed, "How did they find us!?" Ash glared at the three brothers, the waved their hands to try and defend themselves, "I-It wasn't us, we would never turn in someone who has agreed to work with us!" Cynthia looked extremely worried, May suddenly remembered something, "Wait! Earlier on, when I was listening in on those guys" She said whilst looking at the brothers, they were shocked that they had been spied on, "Another guy came and sat on the bench next to me, he didn't do anything, he just sat there...He must have been listening too! He probably turned Jack in!" Jack cursed again, "If I get caught then that's definitely going to be an execution, they're bound to have silver weapons here..." Jack's eyes suddenly widened, "That's it!" Everyone in the room looked at him with confused looks on their faces.

"I know what this king is like, he likes to set an example to his subjects, there's no doubt that the execution will be public. He will be overseeing the execution as well since I'm a moon shifter, that's you chance to take him out Ash." The teen thought for a moment and then nodded, "It's going to be risky..." Jack's face went from serious to slightly sad, "Yeah...I know..." Cynthia didn't look happy at all with this plan, May was also looking a bit scared. Jack then grinned, "Hey, if we don't take risks, how are we ever going to get anywhere in this journey?" They all slowly nodded, Ash then grinned as well, "Let's teach that fat bastard a lesson!" Small smiles broke out on both of the girl's faces. "Allow us to help as well" Said Cilan, "Yeah! Well get rid of the guards for you guys!" Cheered Chili enthusiastically, Cress flipped his hair and grinned, "We'll be done in no time" Jack laughed, "Let's do this!"

(The guard's point of view)

"The culprit was stupid enough to show himself after all" Said the chief, the man simply grinned, "Take me away boss man" His subordinates growled, "Don't talk to the chief with your filthy mouth you dog!" They got a simple chuckle, the chief raised his brow, "You seem very calm for someone who is soon to die..." Jack grinned with a determined look on his face, "Death is like a dream to me" The chief laughed, "It will soon be a nightmare" His laughter was cut off by Jack's confident voice. "Not if there are people to wake me up..." Jack said as he was cuffed and taken away.

**Thanks for reading! Hope you guys liked this chapter, I introduced some more characters from the anime, hope they're not too out of character...So, will Jack be killed? Will the king be killed? Will you be able to guess who the mystery character is? Until next time...**

**Reviews appreciated! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Welcome back! The last chapter left a lot of unanswered questions and this chapter is here to answer them! Hope you look forward to reading, off we go!**

Jack was roughly thrown into a cold, damp and dark jail cell. The iron gate was slammed behind him and he heard the the click of the lock. The guard laughed, "You belong in here, filthy scum..." He said menacingly as he walked away, his footsteps echoing around the dungeon. Jack sat up and sighed, the plan was for the execution to take place right away, not for him to be locked in a jail cell...The brunette looked around, to his right was a slightly higher level of concrete, his bed, and to his left was a bucket that stank worse than a rotting corpse. The iron bars in front of him provided the light for his 'room', the orange torch outside flickered in different directions as the air currents shifted it. There was a prison cell across the hallway from his, it was pitch black but he could see some kind of lump in one of the corners with his night vision. The brunette could hear other prisoners, some of them must have been in here for ages, considering how they were babbling to themselves about things no sane person could understand.

(2 Hours later)

Jack's rear was beginning to ache, he had been sitting still, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did...Jack sighed and stood up, he went over to lean against one of the walls, it was then that he noticed a barred window in the back wall. A small flicker of hope appeared in his soul as he made his way over to it, his hope was quickly extinguished as he saw how thick the bars were. With nothing else to do, the man leaned against the left wall and crossed his arms, he watched the sun disappear behind the horizon outside.

(With the gang)

Ash cursed, "This wasn't meant to happen...I thought the execution was going to take place right away! Now Jack's stuck in prison..." The group were sitting around a wooden table in the restaurant owned by their three new friends, Cilan, Chili and Cress. Cynthia was in a poor state, she kept walking around in circles whilst babbling to herself, it was obvious that she was way more worried about Jack than everyone else, not that they weren't. May was nervously playing around with her thumbs, "W-What if they do the execution inside the palace." Ash growled, "Then we'll break in there and kill every last one of those bastards"

(In the dungeon)

Jack walked up to the iron gate, he looked down the hallway, no guards, that was strange...He then looked at all of the other prison cells, none of their inhabitants were looking at him, he took the chance and morphed into his werewolf from. Jack put one of his giant hands on the bars and began to pull, as soon as he did, his hand turned to goo and melted off of his arm. He growled and morphed back into his human form, "A barrier spell huh? The more force you put on it, the more damage it does to you..." He said whilst looking at his regenerating stump, "Stupid barrier spell...Makes sense why there's no guards..." He heard the wooden door down the hallway creak open.

(In the restaurant)

Ash was sitting at the table, trying to think of a way to help Jack. May was comforting Cynthia since she had began to cry, Ash felt sorry for her. He noticed Cilan walk over to him, "Hey Cilan, what's up?" Ash said, obviously very stressed out, The green haired man crossed his arms. "I think I know of a way for you to get to Jack" Ash's eyes widened, "Really!?" Cilan nodded, "There are a series of underground tunnels in this city in case of an enemy invasion, one of them leads to the palace, it's guarded but only lightly since not many people know of them. I have a map of them that you can use, they used to be used by me and my brothers to smuggle things around the city without the guards noticing." Ash grinned, "Thanks man, this really helps" Cilan smiled, "Not a problem, your friend is helping us so we're going to help him in return."

(Back with Jack)

Jack could hear two pairs of footsteps, they reached his cell and entered the torchlight, the first one he recognised. It was the king, he was wearing a purple tunic with black trousers and black polished shoes. He also had a purple cape and his defining crown on his head, it had an array of green and red jewels in it. His face looked serious and his light brown hair contained a few grey ones, his eyes were dark brown. There was a girl standing next to him, she looked about Ash's age and had blonde hair with amber coloured eyes. She was wearing a light blue dress that outlined her perfect figure and had a small silver tiara on her head, it made Jack sick just to look at it. He chuckled, "No guards your majesty?" The king didn't show any emotion, the girl looked at him, "Father?" The man snapped out of his trance and looked at her with a slight smile, "I'm okay honey..." He turned back to face Jack and backed up a bit when he saw that them man was right up against the bars, giving him a death glare. He looked into his burning scarlet eyes, the flickered in the torchlight, he gulped slightly.

"I-I never thought I w-would see one..." He said slowly, Jack grinned evilly, "Would you like me to show you the thing that your loyal soldiers have to face in battle?" He said coldly, the king gulped again, "N-No..." Jack laughed, "Too bad..." He said as his size increased and hair started to spread all over his body, Jack made it seem even more scary by snarling and drooling as he transformed, the king pulled his terrified daughter close to him and backed up. Standing before them, was a seven foot tall werewolf, Jack mentally laughed, he could smell the fear radiating from them. The brunette had an idea, he backed up into the darkness and stayed there for a while, the king slowly began to return into his original spot. Jack then shot out of the darkness and smashed his fist into the iron gate with a loud roar, his daughter screamed and the king did the same whilst falling backwards. The outburst set off the other prisoners, the were all making noises that sounded more like apes than humans. Jack morphed back into his human form and laughed so hard that tears formed in his eyes.

The king stood back up and brushed himself off, "Your a barbarian! How could you terrify an innocent girl like that!?" He bellowed angrily, Jack calmed down and stood up, "First of all, I'm a moon shifter, not a barbarian. And secondly, easy, by doing what I just did." The king was pissed but regained his posture, "You're a very reckless man, I hope you are aware of that!" Jack walked up to the bars again, the king quietened down when he saw his furious face, "You have no fucking right to judge me you bastard! I don't go around wiping out races that have done nothing wrong! I don't bring my daughter down into a prison that contains dangerous criminals! So think about the shitty things that you have done before you go poking fingers at some other less fortunate person!" The king seemed to be at a loss for words, his daughter was looking Jack straight in the eye, his gaze met hers for a second but she darted her eyes towards the ground. "It wasn't my idea..." The man said simply, Jack raised a brow, "What wasn't?" He demanded more than asked, the king flinched, Jack's voice was like a cold blade. "It wasn't my idea to wipe out the moon shifters, or the aura users, I was just after the money and support that they offered my kingdom." Jack crossed his arms, "You expect me to believe that?" The king looked him in the eye, "No, but it's the truth, if I didn't agree to this contract, they threatened to attack my kingdom." Jack growled, "You're a selfish bastard, wiping out whole races just to protect yourself..." The king sighed, "Well what would you do?" Jack laughed, "Are you serious? I would kill the bastard who was threatening me"

The king crossed his arms, "The truth is, you're the last moon shifter..." Jack rolled his eyes, "Yeah I know, everyone in my village was killed right before my eyes, I was the only one who got out." The king's daughter had the look of pity on her face, she looked at her father and he slowly nodded at her, she pulled out a key and opened the door to Jack's cell. The brunette's eyes widened, "Are you retarded? You do realise that you've just opened that right? I could kill you both right now" The king sighed, "I know, but I don't want to be responsible for ending a race, you need to survive." Jack walked up to the king so that he was face to face, he could sense his fear, he was actually risking his life..."I-I'm very sorry a-about your people..." He whimpered, the furious look on Jack's face didn't disappear, "Sorry?...Sorry!...That doesn't mean shit!" He bellowed as his voiced turned into a snarl and he morphed into his werewolf form, he wrapped his hand around the man's neck and lifted up into the air effortlessly. His daughter started to cry, "P-Please! Don't kill my father! He o-only did it t-to protect us!" Jack shifted his death glare to her, she yelped and fell backwards, he looked back at the choking king.

"P-Please..." He choked out, "H-Have...mercy" Jack growled and tightened his grip, causing the man to cry out in pain, his daughter was sobbing uncontrollably. Suddenly, the sound of someone coming down the stairs interrupted them, Jack growled. His anger disappeared when he saw Ash burst through the dungeon door, the teen's face turned from one of relief to one of shock. "I-Is that the king!?" Jack nodded and loosened his grip on the said person's neck slightly to keep him alive. "Who's that?" He said whilst pointing at the terrified girl that was cowering on the floor, Jack morphed back into his human form, still holding the king in the air. "That's the king's daughter" Ash nodded, "Soooo, what do we do with him" He said whilst looking at the sorry victim that was being held up in the air by his friend, Jack shrugged, "Kill him I guess..." The king's daughter gasped, "Please, h-he didn't commit any of those crimes!" Ash raised a brow and looked at Jack, "Our races..." He said simply, the raven haired teen sighed, "Well there is one way that we could let him live..."

(In the conference room)

Ash, Jack, the king and his daughter were sat at a huge wooden table in a large marble room. To their left and right were suits of armour and weapons that were on show, the cold room was lit by several metal goblets of fire that were scattered along the walls. Ash and Jack were sitting at one end of the table with the king and his daughter at the other. Jack crossed his arms, "First of all, bring me all the information you have on moon shifters and aura users" He said seriously, the king nodded and looked at his daughter, "Darling, could you go and fetch the races book from the library" His daughter looked reluctant to leave but eventually nodded, "Okay..." She stood up and walked over to the large wooden doors, she took one last look at the two 'guests' before leaving.

The king turned back to Ash ad jack, Ash looked at Jack, who nodded at him. "So, we're going to let you live, but you have to agree to our conditions" The king nodded, "Of course, anything you ask" Ash pulled out the contract that he had stolen from the human kingdom's king, "You should have one of these" He said whilst sliding it down the table, it came to a stop in front of the king and he began to read. "Y-Yes, from lord Shelia...She is a terrifying woman, I have heard rumours of her murdering her king to gain full control..." Ash raised a brow, "She has a kingdom?" The king nodded whilst still reading the paper, "Indeed, only a selected few know the location, it's more of a single castle. She is said to be the harbinger of death, apparently, her bodyguard is a fearsome man with a strange power. Nobody has survived for more than a few seconds in battle with him..." Ash glanced at Jack to see that he was writing down notes in a small black notebook.

"Anyway, we need your contract, and you will have no further association with lord Shelia or involvement in her plan. If your kingdom comes under attack, it's your job to fight back" The king looked very worried, "O-Okay...Consider us uninvolved in her plan" Ash nodded with a grin on his face, the king's daughter entered the room again, she was carrying a rather small looking brown book. The king took it from her with thanks and slid it across the table, along with his and human king's contract, to Ash. The teen handed the book to Jack, "Thanks" He said as he began to study the different sections of the book. Ash turned back to look at the king, who was shifting uncomfortably, the teen looked at his daughter who quickly looked at the ground when she saw his gaze drift onto her. Jack's head suddenly snapped up, "Shit, Ash, guards are coming down the hallway!" Ash's face turned to one of shock, Jack looked at the king, "We were never in here" He said as he morphed into a larger version of his werewolf form and wrapped his hand around Ash's waist, "W-Whoa!" He yelped as he was lifted up into the air, Jack then climbed up a wall and perched himself on one of the rafters the were stretched across the ceiling, the darkness made them literally invisible. The only things that could be seen were his blood red eyes which reflected the flickering torchlight.

Five knights burst into the room with their weapons drawn, they saw the king and knelt down, the one at the front spoke first. "My king! We are very sorry to interrupt but the moon shifter has escaped! We are currently searching the palace for him!" The king nodded, "Very well, you may continue" The knights all nodded and left the room, closing the door behind them. Ash let out a breath of relief as Jack descended to the ground and put him down, he was abut to thank him but the teen noticed that he was storming towards the king's daughter. The wolf grabbed her and pulled her a little too close, he then snarled right in her face, making her whimper and yelp slightly. The king stood up in outrage, "What in the blazes are you doing!?" Jack looked at him and growled, he morphed back into his human form and pulled out his sword, the brunette pointed the blade at the princess' neck. "We had an agreement! Your daughter alerted those guards!" The girl choked out a few terrified words, "I-I-I...d-did...not..." Jack looked into her amber coloured eyes with a death glare, they were filled with terror, "My daughter didn't do it! We had agreed to keep this meeting a secret!" Shouted the king, Ash crossed his arms, "I don't think that she did Jack, the Guards were probably just searching for you because you were missing from your cell" Jack sighed and lowered the girl to the floor, she scampered over and hid behind her father for protection.

"Okay, we will no longer have any involvement in lord Shelia's plan, the contract and our information is yours" Said the king, bringing the meeting to a close, Ash and Jack nodded and stood up. "Let's get out of here" Said Ash, Jack nodded and looked at the king, "Where's a way out that's not guarded?" The king put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment, "The back entrance of the kitchens only guarded by a few soldiers since there's a huge wall not far from them..." Jack butted in, "That's fine, let's go Ash" The teen nodded and followed his friend out of the meeting room, little did they know, they were being followed...

(In the back gardens)

Ash looked at Jack, "You think you can climb that?" Jack laughed, "Psh! Easy" Just as he was about to transform, a girl's voice interrupted them, "W-Wait!" They both snapped around and saw the princess, "What the hell are you doing!? If you get seen with us, you'll be treated as a traitor!" Shouted Jack, the girl flinched, "I-I needed...T-To give you...S-Something" Ash raised a brow and Jack became confused, "What is it?" Asked the brunette, the girl pulled out a silver chain that had a silver wolf's head hanging from it, Jack backed up slightly. "Is this some kind of joke?" The girl shook her head, "N-No, it's a beast necklace, is uses your weakness to give you a chance of surviving against it...Before my mother died, she was outraged by lord Shelia's plan, she said that if I ever met a moon shifter then I should give them this..." She said whilst gaining more confidence, Jack walked up to her hand held the necklace in his palm, the figure of the wolf's head stung his hand slightly but it was nothing that he couldn't handle. "Um...Thanks, sorry for...You know...Scaring you" The princess smiled, "It's okay, be careful, goodbye" She said as she quickly planted a small peck on his cheek and ran away, the flabbergasted Jack turned to his raven haired friend, he laughed, "What ever you do, don't tell Cynthia" Jack nodded and put on the necklace, he then morphed into his werewolf form, picked up Ash and started to scale the wall.

As Jack dropped to the ground on the other side of the wall, he put Ash down and morphed back into his human form, "Okay! Let's go!" Ash nodded and ran after his friend, he was so focused on the route that they were taking that he hardly noticed the arrow that pierced through his stomach. The teen grunted in pain as the force threw him to the ground, Jack heard the sound and turned to see Ash struggling to get up, "Crap" He cursed as he ran over and pulled Ash's arm over his shoulder, the teen slowly pulled himself up and used Jack as support.

"Fuck this hurts!" Ash spat, Jack nodded with his eyes still ahead, "Your luck it went through your stomach, if it had hit your head or your heart, your regeneration wouldn't be able to fix it fast enough..." The duo turned left and headed down an alley, away from the crowded main street, "I need to get this thing out!" Ash hissed as he wrapped his hand around the protruding point and began to pull, "Okay, let's take a breather, the guards have probably lost us by now" Said Jack as he sat Ash down on a wooden box, the teen braced himself, "This is gonna hurt like hell..." Jack leaned against the opposite wall with his arms crossed and nodded, Ash took a deep breath and then put all of his strength into his pull. The arrow was yanked out of his chest, bringing small amounts of flesh with it, as well as an eruption of blood. "GAH! GRRRR! Fuck!" The teen shouted as he put a hand on his stomach, "Fight through it man, just a few more minutes" Jack said, Ash looked at him with a death glare, "I wana kill the fucker who did this..." Jack sighed, "Let's just get back to May and Cynthia..."

Ash took a peek around the corner that he and Jack were hiding behind, "I got three on this side..." Ash whispered, he heard Jack grunt behind him, "There's more on this side, most of them are searching the market stalls..." The teen looked across the street, he could see the restaurant where his other two friends were located, if they moved fast enough, they just might miss the patrol. "Okay, let's make a break for it" He said as he started running across the street, he was stopped and yanked back by Jack, he turned to look at him with a pissed face. Jack hushed him and pointed at four guards that were hiding in the shadows of the opposite alleyway. "They would have seen you, too risky" Ash sighed, "Well how do we get across? We can't fight all of these guys, it would attract too much attention..." Jack looked up and grinned, "Guess we go across the roof tops..." The brunette then morphed into his werewolf form and climbed up the wall with Ash in his hand.

The werewolf heaved himself up over the edge of the building and put down his passenger. Ash brushed himself off and looked around, just in time to duck under an arrow that was flying towards him. Unfortunately, the arrow that he dodged embedded itself in the front of Jack's head, making him roar in pain and fall backwards. Ash crouched down and turned to his injured friend, "Shit..." He saw Jack start to growl, the wolf stood up and pulled the arrow out of his forehead, he looked around and spotted the archer. He was standing on top of the building across the street, readying another arrow. Jack ran on all fours and leaped across the gap, the guard screamed as the beast landed on top of him, his cries for help were quickly silenced by its jaws. Ash sighed in relief that they hadn't been detected, he saw Jack stand up and point towards the restaurant, the teen nodded and started running and jumping through the buildings.

Ash vaulted over a rain catcher and crouched at the edge of a building that was across the street from his destination, Jack was already waiting for him on the roof. He sighed, "There's no way I'm gonna make that jump..." He saw Jack stand up and throw something, it sailed through the air and landed in front of him, the tee raised a brow and started to inspect the strange object. It was a guard's crossbow but the arrow that as loaded had rope tied to it, he grinned, understanding what he had to do. He picked up the weapon and took aim, he then pulled the trigger and the arrow was shot through the air and pierced the wall next to Jack. Ash tied the other end of the rope to one of the pillars that were on each corner of the roof top he was standing on.

Ash slowly climbed onto the rope and made his way across the gap between the buildings, the torchlight from the patrols below shined on his back, he was kept hidden against the night sky thanks to his cloak. When he was halfway across, he felt a slight jolt from Jack's side, he tilted his head back to see that the arrow was slipping out of the wall, "Shit..." Just as the arrow came out, the rope was quickly grabbed by the werewolf, he pulled it back to keep it stable. Ash sighed in relief and nodded at jack, the beast nodded back and Ash carried on pulling.

The raven haired teen dropped down onto the roof of the restaurant, "Whew...Thanks for back there..." Jack morphed into his human form and grinned, "No problem, let's get inside" Ash nodded and headed down the wooden stairs with Jack close behind.

Ash the two stepped through the entrance, they saw that the place was empty except for five people that were sitting at a big wooden table in the middle of the table. As soon as they heard the door close, they all raised their heads, everyone's face lit up when they saw two familiar figures. Cynthia stood up and ran towards them, Jack started scratching the back of his head, "Hey Cynthi-UGH!" Was all he managed to get out before he was tackled to the ground in a death hug, he laughed slightly, "Y-Your gonna...Break my r-rips..." She shook her head with her face buried in his chest, "Doesn't matter..." She said in a muffled voice, "You'll heal" Ash chuckled, the look on Jack's face was priceless, he was caught off guard by May wrapping her arms around his chest. He looked down with wide eyes and a blush on his face, "M-May...W-What are you doing?" She looked up at him and giggled, "Consider it a reward" Ash's blush deepened and he looked away, causing May to smile and tighten her hug.

(The next morning)

Ash yanked his knapsack over his shoulder and pulled up his hood, he then turned towards his friends with a grin on his face, "Right! Let's get going!" He said loudly whilst turning and walking towards the door, he heard Jack chuckle behind him, "Do you even know where your going?" Ash flinched and turned back around whilst scratching the back of his head, "Ah ha...I guess not..." May giggled, Jack rolled his eyes with a smile on his face and pulled the map out of his backpack with his free arm, since Cynthia was wrapped around the other one, not letting him go even for a second.

The brunette laid the parchment out on a table, "We have two choices here...The southern desert kingdom or the northern tundras, what do you think Ash?" The teen took a good look at the drawings on the map, he could see several warnings of caves and vicious monsters near the tundras, he mover his eyes downward and scanned the deserts. He could see drawings of sink holes and giant snakes as well as ancient ruins, he noticed that they were moving slightly, Ash raised a brow. "Hey Jack, is this thing alive or something?" Jack smiled, "I see you noticed, it's kind of alive, it's imbued with magic. Try touching something" The raven haired teen moved his finger towards on of the large snakes roaming the desert, it noticed him and went to bite his finger except instead of making contact, it phased straight through. Everybody's eyes widened except for Jack's, "Whoa...That's cool" Said May, Cynthia nodded whilst looking at one of the sea serpents, "I didn't know that it could do that..."

"Well...No offence May, but your not exactly a warrior...We should head south, there aren't as many monsters and we could find some good stuff in those ruins" May sighed, "I guess, I'll find some way to help out though!" Ash nodded, Jack was stroking his chin, "True...But the problem is, Cynthia uses water magic, without much water around, she won't be able to fight at he full potential..." The blonde haired woman shook her head, "I'll be fine, I can always hide behind you!" Jack chuckled, "Okay then, southern deserts it is!" He said as he rolled up the map and put it back in his back pack. May saw someone with purple hair leave the tavern in a rush, she raised a brow and tugged Ash's sleeve slightly, "Ash?" The raven haired teen turned to face her, "Hm? What is it May?" May took another look at the swinging doors, "I think someone was listening in on our plan..."

"You see him?" Asked a worried aura user, the moon shifter sighed, "Nope, I can't smell him either, there's too many people..." The purple haired teen stood up from his hiding place and made his way through the streets, he spent a few minutes walking before he came to a slightly run down building. He looked around before heading in. He was greeted by the smell of smoke and sweat, he hated it, all of these filthy animals...Pathetic. He entered a dark room and sat down at a small wooden table and waited, it wasn't long before a burly man barged through the door and walked over to him. "You the guy I'm supposed to meet?" He said in a deep rumble, the teen simply nodded, the man sat down and placed a bag on the table. "20 gold pieces, tell me what you got" The purple haired boy crossed his arms, "30" He said simply, the man growled, "You better not piss me of kid, you won't like me when I'm angry, I'm already being generous by giving you this!" The teen sat still, not showing any reaction, the man began drumming his fingers on the table. "Come on! I aint' got all day!" Nothing, "Kid, start speakin' before I snap your neck!" Still nothing..."All right, I'll beat it out of ya!" He bellowed as he dived towards him, the teen rolled backwards off of his chair, making the man land heavily on the ground. He then pulled a chain from around his waist and whipped it towards the man's arms, with a few more complex swings, he had completely immobilized his target. The man grunted in pain as the chains tightened, "30" He said again, the man yelled as the chains tightened more, "Okay okay! 30 it is!" He heard a chuckle, "Your pathetic..."

(Back with the group)

Ash crossed his arms, "Great, now someone knows where we're going..." Jack shrugged, "Oh well, maybe if we're fast enough, we can loose them. Plus, they only know where we're going, not what we're doing there...I hope..." The group were now far enough away from the gate for Jack to transform, Cynthia suddenly remembered something and finally let go of Jack, "Jack, I forgot to give you this!" She said as she pulled the telepathy seed out of her bag, Jack's eyes widened, "How the hell did you get that!? Do you realise how rare these things are?" Cynthia giggled and nodded, Ash and May raised their brows, "How rare are telepathy seeds?" He asked curiously, Jack chuckled and patted his back, "Let's just say, you have more chance of seeing another moon shifter than one of these things..." May's eyes widened, "R-Really?!" Jack nodded and looked back at Cynthia, "Where did you find this thing?" Cynthia giggled again and put her hands on her hips, "I've been searching for years, through mountains, oceans, deserts and tons of other places to find one." Jack laughed and brought her into a huge hug, her face went bright red. She noticed Ash with his hands on his hips and his eye brows raised, she put a finger to her lips in a silent "Shh" The teen simply rolled his eyes with a smile as he watched her enjoy her embrace with her obvious crush. May was confused to say the least.

Jack was now in his wolf form as the group were travelling towards the desert kingdom, on both sides of the dirt road they were on were low grasslands. Different herds of herbivores could be see roaming around, with the occasional predator or monster, they kept their distance thanks to Jack's intimidating look. Ash was in the middle with Cynthia in front and May behind, he patted Jack's side, "Does the telepathy seed work man?" He couldn't tell if it was Jack's bobbing head as he ran or a nod, but his friend's voice confirmed it, _"It does, this will make out journeys a lot easier" _

After a while of running, Jack stopped for a short rest, the group hopped off and sat in the ankle high grass. Two distant figures could be seen heading towards them from up the road, it was no big deal, they often encountered other travellers on the road but this time, it was different. As the two men walked past, Ash picked up on their conversation, "I'm telling you man, it's crazy weird how accurate her predictions are! She said that I was going to suffer a serious injury and look!" He said as he showed his companion his bandaged arm, "We got jumped by bandits not too long ago..." The other man's eyes widened, "Really!? Where is she, what's her name?" The injured man tucked his arm back under his poncho, "She lives in a town about a days travel up the road from here, her name is madam Flori." As the two got further away, Ash only picked up on bits of their conversation.

The teen turned to his friends, "Did you guys hear that?" They all nodded, Jack spoke up, "Indeed, a woman who can predict fortunes, I wonder if she uses magic..." May seemed to be thinking really hard about something, "I think we had a fortune tell in our castle once, she was always wrong...But was good at making tea!" She said with a giggle, Cynthia smiled, "I bet you want to get out fortunes read, right?" Ash nodded with a grin, "It couldn't hurt, the town is in our travel path anyway and we will probably need to stop there for supplies. They all nodded, "Right, let's go!" Ash said with a grin.

(The next day)

The group entered the town, it was surrounded by fields and flowers, bees and other insects flew about whilst doing their daily buiseness. Overhead, different types of birds flew around, calling to each other. There were not many buildings so it was easy to tell which one was the fortune teller's, after the group had bought supplies, they headed inside. The inside of the building was dark, lit only by the ominous purple glow coming from a glass ball on a table in front of them. A cloaked figure could be seen sitting at the other side, "She must be the fortune teller..." Whispered May, "Come, my curious costumers, I take it you are looking for answers about your future?" From her voice, Ash could tell that she was around Jack's age, "Yeah, um...How much?" Asked the raven haired teen, the woman chuckled, "No gold is needed, you only need to be prepared for a bad future if you get one..." The teen nodded, the woman looked towards May, "Young princess..." May's eyes widened, "Yes, I know who you are, you will have your fortune told first. I ask that your companions leave the room as this ritual requires my utmost focus." The group was reluctant but was eventually persuaded by May to leave.

(May's turn)

The brunette sat down at the table, opposite madam Flori, and looked into the crystal ball. "I present you with three choices my dear, combat, love or companionship..." May's face heated up slightly as she thought of the love fortune, hoping it would involve a certain raven haired teen. May couldn't see it, but madam Flori smiled slightly under her hood when she saw May's blush. "So I take it you would like to hear your love fortune?" May's eyes widened and she waved her hands around, "N-N-NO, I-I WAS J-Just thinking..." "About love?" Madam Flori finished, enjoying this fortune telling session, May jumped again. "N-N-NO I...Combat...I wana hear my combat fortune..." Madam Flori raised a brow, "Are you sure my dear?" May quickly nodded whilst looking down at her hands in her lap. "As you wish..." Madam Flori started staring into her glass ball whilst chanting something, May could see red, blue, orange and purple smoke swirling around inside. "A big change is coming, you will take up arms and fight with a weapon that feels like an extension of your own body. Training will be simple but complex at the same time, you will be able to protect your companions instead of them protecting you." The smoke inside the glass ball faded and went back to its original purple colour. May nodded a the woman, "Thank you." May stood up to leave but was stopped by madame Flori's voice, "One more thing, do not tell you friends what I have told you, it will tarnish the prediction and change your future to a bad one..." May nodded with a smile on her face and left the building.

The brunette found her friends waiting outside, Jack was the first to speak, "How'd it go? You were in there for a while, we were getting worried" May smiled, "It went fine Jack, everything is okay, I can't tell you my fortune though...Madam Flori said it will change my future to a bad one if I do." Ash crossed his arms and nodded, "Makes sense...Who's next?" He said whilst looking at Jack and then Cynthia who nodded, "Okay, I'll go next." She said as she headed inside.

(Cynthia's turn)

Cynthia walked back into the dark building and sat down at the table, "Hello there...I'm Cynthia" She said whilst looking into the darkness of madam Flori's hood, the woman nodded, "It's nice to meet you Cynthia, I suppose you already know who I am?" The blonde haired woman nodded, "I do indeed madam Flori" Said person smiled, "Good, let's get to fortune telling then. You have three choices, combat, love or companionship." Cynthia's face did the same thing as May's when madam Flori mentioned love, the fortune teller could tell as soon as the group walked in that the two women already had their eyes on the men. Cynthia played with her fingers nervously, "U-Um well..." Madam Flori smiled, "Take your time my dear" "L-L-Love...I suppose..." Madam Flori nodded and went to work on her glass ball, "Love it is!" The different coloured smoke appeared in the globe again, swirling around each other and combining to make even more colours. When it all settled down, Cynthia could see a red heart floating inside the glass ball. "You will be happy, for a while at least, util something will enter your life and make the fight even harder. Challenges await, your love will need support, a miracle is awaiting." Cynthia was on the edge of her chair and was slightly upset with the point that madam Flori had left her fortune at, but eventually, she thanked her and left.

The woman stepped outside and her eyes instantly focused on Jack, who was sketching a squirrel that was sitting up in the branches of the tree he was sitting under. May shuffled over to Cynthia, "Did you pick love? I messed up..." She whispered, Cynthia giggled and nodded, she continued watching Jack with a satisfied smile on her face. "Wonder what the miracle is..." She thought to herself.

Ash turned to Jack, "Who's next?" He asked, Jack closed his book and put it back in his pocket, "I'll go, I wana see if she uses any magic." Ash nodded and Jack made his way inside.

(Jack's turn)

The brunette walked oner and sat at the table, his night vision let him see madam Flori's face clearly, the weird thing was, she looked exactly like Cynthia except she had brown hair and light blue eyes. "Wow, you look a lot like Cynthia..." He said, the woman giggled, "And you look like a moon shifter with those scarlet eyes, and seeing as how my face is visible to you, this fact is confirmed." Jack grinned, "You don't seem all that surprised to see the last one" The woman smiled, "Let's just say that there are one or two more out there, not every single one that got invited went to your village." Jack's eyes widened, "Are you being serious?!" The woman's smile widened, "Indeed, it's not over yet Jack Nightblood." The brunette frowned, "H-How do you know my name?" The fortune teller's voice saddened slightly, "My parents were close friends of your mother, we met once, but only briefly..." Jack stroked his chin, "I'm sorry...I can't quite remember..." The woman waved him off, "Don't worry about it, I'm just happy that you know. So, combat, love or companionship?" Jack thought for a while, "companionship" He said simply, the woman nodded and started chanting into her glass orb. After the smoke had settled, she looked slightly worried, Jack raised a brow. "Everything all right?" Madam Flori looked Jack directly in the eyes, "No...There will come a time, you will engage in a huge battle and cheat death once." Jack nodded, that was probably his necklace that he received from the jungle princess. "But..." Continued madam Flori, "When it comes down to it, in order for your friends to live...You...Must die..." Jack's face was emotionless, his reaction made madam Flori feel even worse but she couldn't not tell him about this...

After a while, Jack stood up and thanked madam Flori, he turned around and walked towards the exit but stopped. He spoke without turning around, "Telling them about it will change it to a more worse future right?" Madam Flori nodded, "Yes..." Jack sighed but then laughed slightly, "Figures..." He left the room, and a guilty fortune teller, behind.

Jack walked down the steps and his friends stood up to greet him, he looked at every one of their faces, prepared for the inevitable. "How'd it go?" Asked Ash noticing Jack's silence, "It...It went great...I can't believe I got such a good one!" He said, faking a smile, Ash and May congratulated him but Cynthia picked up on his sadness, she decided to let it go and ask him later.

(Ash's turn)

"Guess I'm next" Said Ash, he turned to the group, "Wish me luck!" He said as he ran inside, when he entered, he noticed that madam Flori was slouched over mumbling to herself. "He doesn't deserve it...He doesn't deserve it...It's too unfair..." Ash raised a brow, "Um...Madam Flori, everything okay?" The woman jumped slightly, "Y-Yes...Come on in..." She seemed like she wanted to get it over with so Ash waisted no time, he sat a the table and looked directly into the shadows of her hood. "Combat, love or companionship?" She said in a stressed voice, Ash thought for a moment, "Combat" He said seriously, the woman nodded but then froze, "You're an aura user aren't you?" Ash was caught off guard, "Y-Yeah...How did you know?" Madam Flori looked into her glass ball, "I can sense your aura, it is strong and pure. Keep it that way. Still, not a worthy trade for his life..." She whispered the last part, Ash grinned with determination in his eyes, "I'm going to right this world, no more corruption or secret plans. No more killing...No more deaths..." Madam Flori smiled and looked into her glowing ball, "You have a huge quest ahead of you, your friends are vital. Take care of each other and stay strong. You will be pushed to your limits by the person that everyone fears, I also sense a reunion of blood. Teamwork is essential for victory. The battle will be harsh, not only your body, but your emotions will suffer as well." Ash nodded, taking in every word, "Reunion of blood?" He thought to himself, madam Flori finished her ritual and looked him in the eyes. "Take care of yourself, aura guardian." Ash shook his head, "Oh, I'm not a soldier, just a traveller." The fortune teller simply nodded, "As you say so..."

Ash stepped out of the building and looked at his friends, May was talking to Cynthia and Jack was sitting a distance away, he was watching the sun set. He had a look of both sadness and determination on his face. Ash looked at his hands, they glowed blue and gave off a darker blue smoke as he activated his powers for a second but then the glow faded as he deactivated them. The teen looked around, he was going to change this world and take down the one threatening it, "Lord Shelia..." He said coldly.

**Thanks for reading guys! I'm really sorry that it took so long to upload, I tried to make it a bit longer than usual and I also added a few juicy bits to satisfy your hunger for my delayed story! Hope it was interesting to read! Once again, sorry for the time gap, I hope the story isn't moving too fast for you, if it is, feel free to say so in a PM or review. You are welcome to give some constructive criticism in a review, as well as ideas or this new thing that I saw some other authors do. Technically, it's where you send me a PM containing details of a character that you made up so I can put them in my story! For instance, the name, the gender, the personality, the appearance, what weapon you want them to use, whether you want them to be evil or good and how you want them to meet the gang! I take no credit for this idea, it wasn't mine. Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Wow, this was fast! Welcome to chapter 8! I hope you liked the last one and are pumped to read more! Here we go!**

"No...Not like t-this..." Mumbled a certain brown haired man in his sleep, he was currently having a terrifying nightmare. After a series of shifts and more mumbles, Jack shot up and snapped his eyes open. His forehead was drenched with sweat and he was panting heavily, he ran a hand through his hair whilst looking around, the group had stopped for the night at an inn that was near the entrance to a forest. Nobody had seemed to be woken up by his outbursts, Jack sighed in relief and stood up, he pulled on his shirt and trench coat. The man then headed outside into the hallway, feeling the need to get some air, little did he know, a certain blonde haired woman was also awake.

Jack sat down on a bench that was in front of the inn, the sounds of forest night life could be heard in the fresh air, he sighed. "My life for all of theirs huh? No problem..." He said to himself whilst clenching his fists, he still didn't feel right, he couldn't shake the feeling of...Anger. He would often find a voice inside of his head asking, _"Why do I have to? It's not fair!" _He would quickly shake his head free of these thoughts every time but they kept coming back. Jack sighed again ad lowered his head to rest on is hands, _"Why don't you leave? You owe them nothing! It's not like they can stop you, they're weak!" _Jack growled and shook his head, "Stop...Just stop it!" He heard a soft voice speak up, a voice that made all of his negative emotions fade to nothing, Cynthia's voice. "Jack? Is everything okay?"

"I...Just...Feel so...Angry" Jack said slowly as Cynthia took a seat next to him, she had a look of worry in her eyes, her silky blond hair was slightly like Ash's raven hair from where she had been sleeping. "Why? Is there anything I can do to help?" After a while, Jack looked into her eyes, a small blush appeared on her cheeks. "Stay safe...Always make sure you have a way out, never take the risk of dying" Cynthia smiled, "Hey, I have you and my water magic, I'm not completely helpless." She said whilst putting emphasis on the word 'completely' Jack chuckled slightly, "Yeah, I guess so" He stood up and morphed into his werewolf form, "What are you doing?" Cynthia asked curiously, Jack looked over his shoulder at her, _"I'm going for a run, get inside before you catch a cold." _Cynthia giggled, "It's funny to see you say such a caring thing whilst in that form." Jack simply rolled his eyes and took off on all fours, the blonde haired woman turned and went back inside.

(The next morning)

Ash slowly opened his eyes and yawned, he took some time to stretch and then stood up. The teen changed into his normal black clothing and walked over to the window, outside he could see Jack and May having a conversation, May looked like she was thinking hard about something. Ash's curiosity piqued so he made his way outside to see what was going on.

As the raven haired teen walked out of the front door, after thanking the inn keeper for having them, he heard small parts of the discussion that was going on between the two brunettes. "Well" Said Jack as he scanned through a book, "Which one of these would you feel most comfortable with? Remember, if you don't like it, you won't be able to use it to its full potential." May nodded as she read the pages over Jack's shoulder, "Well...I don't think I'm the type to get up close and personal like you or Ash..." The teen became even more curious when he heard his name, he came to a stop in front of his two friends and raised a brow, "What's goin' on guys?" Jack grinned, "May has something interesting for you to hear Ash" The aura user looked at the brown haired beauty with a confused face, she smiled widely, "I want to learn how to fight!" Ash grinned, "Really? That's great! What weapon are you planning on using?" May frowned and looked back at Jack's book, "I don't know, I was just going over a few with Jack, none of them really stand out..." Ash nodded, "No rush, take your time." May smiled again.

Cynthia appeared a few minutes later, she was carrying a bucket of fresh water, she walked over to the group and began to speak. "Hey, the inn keeper just warned me about the forest up ahead, she says that it plays tricks on you..." Jack looked at her and frowned, "Plays tricks on you?" The woman nodded, "Apparently, the plants that grow in that forest release a scent that makes you hallucinate, the forest has a name...But I can't remember it..." She said whilst frowning, Ash raised a brow, "Can it harm you?" Cynthia shook her head as she put the bucket down, "Not the hallucinations themselves, but what you do whilst your experiencing one can, like walking into a tree or off a cliff..." Ash frowned and sat down on the bench next to Jack, "Can our regeneration do anything about it?" The man shook his head, "If it doesn't cause a major threat, the regeneration in our bodies won't activate..." Ash sighed, "Is there any way to go around?" Jack shook his head again, "Not unless you want to go all the way back to the jungle kingdom and head north..." The teen cursed, "Right, let's get it over with..."

After everyone had eaten and paid for the food, they began heading towards the tall trees, as they came to the entrance of the forest, the group could see an old wooden sign. "The forest of illusions...Travellers beware" May read aloud, Cynthia gulped. Jack crossed his arms, "Well at least we don't have to worry about monsters whilst making our way through here, they wouldn't be able to live in a place where they don't know what's real and what's not" Ash nodded and entered with everyone else close behind.

Inside the forest, there were many colourful flowers and mushrooms, As saw a small rodent run across the trail up ahead. It scampered over to an orange and red flower and started to sniff it. They next thing that happened made Ash raise his brow, the flower rose up and blew a cloud of orange powder from its opening, the cloud surrounded the rodent and Ash watched the mist enter its nostrils. The poor animal started looking around in all directions, it as using its small hands to try and swat away what must have been invisible bugs, the creature then stumbled away whilst jumping and ducking for no reason at all. The teen turned to his friends, May was devastated, Cynthia looked worried and Jack was writing notes in his journal.

"So technically, all we have to do is avoid the plants, they seem to have that powder stuff as a defence mechanism..." Said Jack as he sketched one of the flowers into his book, May was marvelling at the tiny red ones that were growing on the tree trunks and Cynthia was studying a trail of ants that seemed to be walking around in an endless circle. A thought popped into Ash's head, "I wonder if we can burn them..." Jack looked at him, "Um...I guess we could try..." Ash nodded and picked up a sizeable rock from the ground, the teen then walked over to one of the blue flowers. He drew his sword and sliced the blade against the rock, a few sparks flew off and into the bush, the flames quickly rose up and engulfed the petals. Ash suddenly got a bad feeling and quickly jumped backwards, his choice was the right one as the flower literally exploded and sent out twice the amount of mist. The teen sighed, "Burning them is worse, lets just get through this..."

(A few hours later)

Ash hummed to himself as he poked the logs in the fire with a stick, one of them fell from its previous perch and released a storm of embers. Jack grinned, "You seem happy, what's up?" Ash smiled and looked at his friend, "I could get used to this, you know? Travelling with friends, sittin' around a fire, it's all just so...Great" Jack chuckled, "You sound like an old man" Ash rolled his eyes, "I would die happy if every day could be like this..." Jack frowned, "Even with all the stuff going on? The war, the killing of our races...I would happily give my life to protect them." Ash nodded with a serious face whilst looking into the flames, flashbacks of his town and the destruction that took place flew through his mind. Jack was experiencing the same things.

Ash popped a question that he had been wanting to ask for ages, "Where is the war being fought?" Jack looked into his eyes, after a while, he eventually spoke. "Up near the tundras...Where Lord Shelia's fortress is. It's the coldest and most harsh part of this world, no normal person can survive there...Only trained soldiers...And people like her." He said with eyes that reflected the orange flames of the fire. "Her fortress is said to be impenetrable, her army supposedly has at least one of every type of race, even moon shifters. She bribes them with her promises of them being able to live if they join up, it's sick." Ash raised a brow, "You seem to know a lot about this stuff..." The brunette sighed and then nodded whilst still looking into the fire, "Yeah well, I was offered to join up...I received a letter from her, requesting..." He laughed slightly, "More like demanding that I join her army" Ash's eyes widened, "What did you do?" Jack grinned, "I refused...She sent assassin's after me, I killed them, she sent more, I killed more...And she holds a grudge to this day..." Ash leaned back and looked up into the trees, "Whoa...I bet you want revenge huh?" Jack nodded as a look of anger appeared on her face, "She not only destroyed my town and killed all of my kind, but she mocks me by saying I should join her and then tries to kill me when I don't! I'm gonna tear her apart..."

(In the forest)

Cynthia was walking around, not really looking for anything, just wandering. She came across a bush that had bright blue berries growing on it, she picked one of them and sniffed it, it smelled sweet. She saw a bird land on a branch above her head, it plucked one of the berried off of the higher branch and swallowed it whole, convinced that the berries weren't poisonous, the woman popped it into her mouth and started eating. The taste was amazing, she ate a few more but then noticed that something was wrong, the trees around her were bending at impossible angles. "Oh no..." She said as she started running back to camp, avoiding the weird demons that were crawling out of the ground.

(Back at the camp)

Jack was busy roasting a rabbit that he had caught over the fire, the smell made Ash's stomach rumble and his mouth water. May had joined them recently and was now sitting beside Ash, taking quick glances at his face whenever she got the chance. Jack rotated the rabbit and looked around, "Anybody know where Cynthia is?" He asked, Ash shook his head and May shrugged, "I think she went for a walk in the forest" She said, a look of worry appeared on Jack's face, "It's getting dark...I'm gonna go look for her, Ash, finish cooking will ya?" The teen nodded and took the stick from his friend. The brunette stood up and morphed into his werewolf form and started walking into the darkening forest whilst sniffing the air for the scent of Cynthia.

(In the forest)

Cynthia was cowering by the base of a large tree, wherever she went, those things would follow...They could only be described as mutated humans, skin as pale as snow and large black eyes. Their bodies were skeletal, just a thin layer of skin pulled over frail bones, their posture was haunched. The way they moved made her shiver, they would stumble and crawl, maintaining distance but keeping close enough to watch her every move. She watched the rays of sun light disappear, the forest was getting darker, soon she would be all alone in pitch black with those things watching her...A tear trickled down her face as she curled up into a ball, "H-Help me...*Sniff*...Jack..."

(With the wolf)

Jack swung from one branch to the next, taking care not to latch onto the tree trunks that had flowers on them. He listened closely, the forest was eerily silent, so silent in fact that he could still hear the crackling of his camp fire and the voices of Ash and May. He wished that Cynthia was at least making some noise but he couldn't hear anything, not a sound, he hoped that the worst hadn't happened. He sniffed again, berries, mammals, leaves and wood was all he could smell. As every second passed, Jack became more and more worried about his childhood friend...

(With Cynthia)

Staying silent was all Cynthia could think to do, she was worried that even if she moved a muscle those things would attack. They had completely surrounded her now, some were squatted on the ground and others were hanging from tree branches. Their eyes were locked on her, fear was spreading all through her body, she could feel herself trembling. She took a chance, the woman picked up a rock, causing the closest creature to tilt its head. Cynthia held her breath and threw the rock towards the creature, instead of impacting with its flesh, it went straight through and created a few ripples. The woman breathed in relief, they were just illusions...But they seemed so real, suddenly, they all looked up towards the sky with looks of fear on their faces.

Jack fell from above and landed in front of Cynthia with a thud, he saw the fear on her face and raised a brow, he turned around and saw nothing. Cynthia started sobbing, Jack turned back around and became worried, _"What's wrong Cynthia? Are you okay?" _The woman shakily held out her arms with tears running down her face, Jack morphed into his human form and held out his hand, thinking that she wanted help standing up. When he pulled her to her feet, she ran forward and wrapped her arms around him whilst burying her face into his chest and crying. Jack was caught off guard, "Hey...What's goin on? " Cynthia spoke in a terrified voice, "A-Are you r-real?" Jack chuckled, "I think so, I mean...Your hugging me right?" The woman smiled slightly, she looked up at his face, her tears had created lines that went down her face. Jack moved his hand to her face and wiped them off, "There...That's better!" He said with a grin, she felt all of her worry and fear fade away when she saw his smile. "Let's go back" Cynthia nodded.

(At the camp)

Ash noticed that May was staring at him, the teen raised a brow and looked at her, "What's up?" May was caught off guard and waved her hands around, "W-W-What do you mean?! N-Nothing..." She said as she looked down at her hands in her lap, Ash frowned and moved his face close to hers. May looked back up and her sapphire eyes met a pair of chocolate brown ones, her face turned scarlet and she launched backwards with a yelp. "WHHHAAA, w-what are you doing?!" The raven haired teen grinned, "I should ask you that, is there something on my face?" May shook her head frantically and sat down next to Ash again, a little closer this time...

(In the forest)

During the walk back, Jack had noticed that Cynthia was literally hanging off of his arm with a terrified look on her face. She was trembling as she walked so the brunette had scooped her up into his arms, causing her to yelp, once she had seen who the person was, she had smiled and snuggled into his chest with her arms around his neck. They were close to the camp now, Cynthia wasn't trembling any more but she still looked scared so Jack came up with a way to take her mind off the subject, "Hey, Cynthia" He said, getting his childhood friend's attention, "I came up with some nicknames for you!" Cynthia raised a brow, her fear being replaced with curiosity, "Really?" Jack nodded with a grin, "You have a choice, Cynth or Cynthy." The woman giggled, "I like Cynthy" The brunette's grin widened, "Okay, Cynthy it is!" The newly named 'Cynthy' thought for a moment, "Then I'll call you Jacky!" Jack raised a brow, "Jacky? But that's longer than my original name" Cynthy giggled, "It doesn't matter because it sounds cute" Jack rolled his eyes with a smile.

(At the camp)

Ash almost had a heart attack when Jack and Cynthia suddenly appeared from behind a tree, it didn't help that May had screamed and then jumped on him. Jack's chuckle was all he could hear, May's chest was the only thing he could see. The brunette yelped and jumped off of him with a scarlet coloured face, "S-S-Sorry A-Ash..." The raven haired teen sat back up and scratched the back of his head, "D-Don't worry about it" A small blush could be seen on his face, one thought was racing through his mind, _"How are they that soft?!" _

Ash yawned as he laid down on his sleeping bag, he could only see a small part of the night sky through the trees, but it was enough for him. The air was surprisingly warm, considering that summer was over and autumn was already here. Ash held up his hand and activated his aura, the blue glow matched the stars and galaxies in the sky perfectly. Ash sat up and formed a small blue sphere in his palm without even thinking, his eyes were wide as he studied the small blue ball, he couldn't tear his eyes away. He moved his other hand up to the ball and moved both away at the same time, the sphere split into thousands of tiny beads that orbited around the teen, he chuckled as he poked one of them. To his surprise, it formed a large blue rectangle, inside, he could see the figures of two people. Ash recognised them instantly, it was himself and Gary, the location they were sitting at was familiar...

Ash's mind suddenly clicked, it was their meeting place! Up on the mountain, "Wait a minute..." He said as he watched what Gary was doing, he had something in his hand, every now and again, he would take something out and put it in his mouth. "It's a memory!" Ash said in realisation, he heard Jack's voice, "I have heard stories of aura users using their aura to view their memories...I never actually thought that it was possible...You even made an aura sphere!" Ash grinned as he brought his hands back together, all of the tiny beads joined back into the blue sphere, Ash then absorbed the blue ball back into his hand and looked at Jack. The brunette had pulled out his journal and was taking notes, "No signs of exhaustion...Colour saturation perfect...Power level above average..." He mumbled to himself as he wrote down nearly half a page worth of information, Ash rolled his eyes and laid back down.

(The next morning)

"How big is this forest..." Groaned May as she trudged along behind Ash, the raven haired teen looked at Jack, who was studying his map as the group walked. He grinned, "Well, Iv'e got good news and bad news, which do you wana hear first?" Cynthia thought for a moment and then looked at May and Ash, they both nodded with smiles on their faces, "The good news" She said happily, Jack's grin widened, "We only have another day's travel until we get to the exit of the forest! The bad news is that we need to cross the rapids..." Ash crossed his arms with a frown on his face, "Isn't there a way to get around?" Jack shook his head, "Not unless you want to travel for two weeks..." The raven haired teen sighed.

Ash crouched at the edge of the fast flowing river, what Jack said was true, the message echoed through his mind. _"If you fall in, all you can do is pray for your life. The currents are too strong to fight..." _Ash shivered at the thought of drowning in the freezing water, he looked to the other side, the river was huge. The only way to cross was the mossy boulders that had been swept into place by the current. The teen looked up the river, a huge waterfall was creating a ton of noise with a volume that could rival Jack's roar. He then turned his head in the opposite direction, the river disappeared over the horizon with a series of twists and turns. Green trees that were starting to go brown and orange lined each side. Ash could see a wooden bridge that had once provided a way across, it was now broken and rotted, probably caused by the power of the water. "Ash! You ready to cross?" Jack's voice brought him out of his thoughts, the teen stood up and walked towards the group, "Yeah, let's get this over with"

Ash leaped forwards and landed gracefully on a boulder that was rocking slightly from the force of the rapids, the teen looked behind him, Cynthia was furthest to the left with Jack keeping a close eye on her. He was squatting down on a boulder that was not too far in front of the one she was on. May was to his right, she took two steps and jumped with as much power as possible, her landing was risky, she started swinging her arms to maintain her balance. Ash looked forward, not much further now, just a few more jumps. The teen caught something moving out of the corner of his eye, he snapped his head down to look into the water, he could have swore that he saw a shape. The teen shrugged, "Probably just a log..." He said to himself as he leaped to the next boulder.

(Jack's POV)

The brunette smiled as Cynthia picked up the pace, she was getting the hang of this, he was glad that she had bought a new outfit at the inn. Her old one restricted her movements too much, she was now wearing a brown tunic with a hood, white tights and brown knee high boots. May was wearing something slightly similar, she was wearing a black cotton skirt, a white cotton blouse with a black cotton cardigan and black boots. The brunette back flipped to the next boulder whilst still watching Cynthia, he wasn't taking any chances of loosing her. Something moving in the water tore his eyes away for a second but as soon as it appeared, it was gone. He frowned and looked down the river, he could see faint outlines of things in the water, they were completely still despite the raging current. Jack looked over at Ash, who was also looking for something in the river, "It can't be swamp creepers..." Jack said to himself whilst studying the water, "The river's too clear..."

Jack stood up and backed up so that Cynthia could jump to the boulder that he was on, she leaned back and then leaped forward. When her feet landed on the boulder, she slipped and fell towards Jack, the brunette was caught off guard by the blonde haired beauty flying into his arms. Cynthia's face was redder than a fire crystal, Jack also had a slight blush on his face, "S-Sorry!" Cynthia quickly said as she backed away, Jack shook his head, "D-Don't worry about it..." The brunette was brought to attention by May's scream, he snapped his head in the direction of the sound and saw that Ash was being attacked by what looked like blue lizards. Fear appeared on Cynthia's face, "Jack! May's in trouble, look!" As he did, he saw that a tree trunk had knocked May off of her boulder and she was now clinging to it for her life. He reacted quickly, "Cynthia, use your magic to help Ash, I'll get May!" The woman nodded and jumped towards Ash's location, Jack morphed into his werewolf form and took huge leaps towards May.

(Ash's POV)

Ash cursed as he ducked under the creature's claw, "What the hell are these things!" He shouted, there were three of them and they didn't get washed away whenever he kicked them into the river. It was a pain fighting on these boulders, dodging meant risking a chance of falling into the river, Ash blocked the lizard's downward slash with his sword and then jumped over its head. He brought his sword back and plunged it deep into the reptile's scaly hide, it roared in pain as dark green blood erupted from its wound. Its legs couldn't keep it up right, Ash took his chance and kicked its back with full force, the impact sent the creature into a nearby boulder causing several of its bones to break. The corpse fell into the river and was sent flying downstream. Ash grinned and looked at the other two, who were snarling at him, a sudden line of water whipped their backs, making them screech in pain and look for the attacker. Cynthia landed next to Ash and stuck her thumb up, "Need some help?" Ash chuckled, "You kidding? This is child's play!"

(May's POV)

May was barely keeping her grip on the tree trunk, the currents pushed and pulled her, slamming her into the bark. Keeping her head above the water took a lot of effort, she could feel her strength draining, the teen didn't know how much longer she could keep this up. Something landed landed on top of the tree trunk, she looked up but was pulled underwater by something, whatever it was, it wasn't giving her any chance of escaping. May tried to breath but waster filled her lungs, she was fading into darkness. Just when she thought it was all over, she felt a strong grip around her wrist, the force that pulled her up out of the water brought the thing that was taking her down up too. The teen looked down and saw a weird green lizard hanging onto her leg, a huge black hand wrapped around its chest and crushed all of its bones, the creature couldn't even make a sound since its lungs were now jelly, it simply fell into the river and floated away.

May coughed up all the water that was in her lungs and breathed the deepest breath she had ever taken, she looked up to see the crouched form of a werewolf, even with its fierce look, May could sense worry in its eyes. She smiled and took a few more breaths, "I-I'm...*Pant*...Okay Jack..." The beast nodded and carefully pulled her to her feet, making sure to keep her balanced on the rocking log. May looked around, she noticed that the two of them were being washed away from the cluster of boulders upstream. Ash and Cynthia were standing at the edge of the boulders with worried looks on their faces, "I'm okay!" The teen shouted happily with a wave, They both sighed in relief, Cynthia shouted back. "What do we do now?! There's no way we can follow you! The rapids are too fast!" Jack morphed back into his human form since his telepathy wasn't loud enough to hear over the noise of the river. "Go to the exit of the forest! You know the way, we'll meet you there!" He shouted, Ash crossed his arms, "How much more do we have to travel?!" Jack stroked his chin, "We just crossed this river so...We should be there by sunset!" The two of them nodded, "Take care!" Shouted May, Cynthia waved and Ash nodded with a grin on his face, "You too, see you soon!" Shouted Cynthia as Jack and May floated out of hearing range.

(The quest of Jack and May)

May sighed, "The currents are still so strong, why haven't we hit the shore yet?" Jack shrugged, "I don't know, we should have landed ages ago..." The two of them had been floating for almost an hour, the tree trunk they were on would sometime drift close enough t the shore for Jack to make the jump, but would quickly go back to the middle of the river. May looked around, Jack was standing at the back of the trunk, watching the different types of debris flow down the river. She was sat near the front of the tree, most of the leaves had been washed off by the river so she could see in front of them, a small wooden building with a thatched roof appeared over the horizon.

May sat up, "Jack! There's a house over there!" The man tuned to look at her with a raised brow, "Huh? A house, out here?" May nodded and pointed to the building, the older brunette squinted as he studied the structure, it looked very run down with several holes in the roof. What was in front of the building caught his attention, a wooden walkway was stretching out into the river, several bits of debris were already stacked against it. The tree trunk was heading straight for it, Jack ran to the front of the tree, "May, this is our chance to get off!" The teen's face brightened up, "Yes!" Jack morphed into his werewolf form and picked up the girl, who was so absorbed in cheering that she didn't notice.

Jack crouched down low, building up power in his legs, as soon as the walkway was close enough, he launched himself into the air. May screamed, not being a fan of heights, Jack sailed through the air and landed in a squatting position on the pier. He put the shaky girl down and she stumbled towards dry land, she sighed in relief as stepped onto the dirt. "Whew, I'm glad we're off of that thing" She said as she watched the tree drift away, Jack nodded and looked at the worn down building, _"This place is in shambles, looks like it's been vacant for a long time..."_ May nodded as she looked for any sign of life, there were none, she was brought out of her thoughts by Jack walking towards the building. "What are you doing?" Jack stopped and looked at her over his shoulder, _"Might as well take a look, it's not like anyone lives here"_ He said with a shrug and then pulled open the large wooden door, it made a long creak as it moved, Jack's form disappeared into the shadows. May followed after him.

The inside of the building was as bad as the outside, the floorboards had holes in them, the windows were smashed, the chairs and tables were rotted and there were cobwebs everywhere. The whole place stank of damp and rotted wood, May was about to walk around when she was stopped by Jack's enormous arm, _"Hold up..." _May backed up a bit, "What is it?" She whispered, Jack sniffed the air and growled slightly, _"I smell smoke, someone's been here recently..." _May looked around, "Maybe they're homeless?" Jack looked at her, _"They could be bandits, stay close..." _He said as he made his way over to the old stairs that were in the corner, every step was noisy, either a creak or a snap. May peeked around the corner at the top of the stairs and her eyes widened, Jack raised a brow and also took a peek, he towered above May. Jack didn't like what he saw, every where he looked, he could see clothes, weapons, gold purses and a range of other things. Animal skins and straw were laid out on the ground, probably serving as bed for the inhabitants of this place.

May was looking at all of the items that were surprisingly well organised, "Who do you think lives here?" Jack was studying the selection of gems that were in a chest, _"Probably thieves, or bandits." _May raised a brow, "Aren't they the same thing?" Jack shook his head and moved onto the armour that was stacked against the wall, _"Thieves don't kill, bandits do." _"Oh..." Said May as she looked into a mirror, "How do you think they got all of this stuff?" Jack scratched the back of his head, _"Well, about an hour's travel away from the exit of this forest is the great city of Rakava, it's huge, lots to steal. They probably use this place to store what they take from the trading caravans and the markets. There must be some good stuff here, take a look around."_ May watched him hold up a broad sword that was taller than her, the brunette shrugged and started looking at the weapons that had been put on a wooden table. One thing caught her eye, a bow that had bright blue limbs that were shaped like angel wings. Ornate carvings were all over them. The grip of the bow was shaped like a star and had something carved into it. "Angel's kiss..." May read aloud, she head a huge smash behind her and jumped, she spun around to see jack in his human form with a shocked look on his face. "D-Did y-you just say A-Angel's k-kiss?"

"One of the six legendary bows!?" May shouted in disbelief, Jack nodded as he pulled a book out of his bag, he flicked through the pages until he came to the part he was looking for. "Here we go! Angel's kiss, one of the legendary holy bows that were said to have been placed in this world by the gods. They are said to be blessed with the power of the angels that once wielded the weapons, the bow chooses it's user! If the user isn't the right person, it will become stiff and unusable..." May's eyes widened, Jack grinned and handed her a steel arrow, "Try it out" May nodded and readied the arrow against the grip, for some reason, she knew exactly what to do. May pulled the string back and held her breath as she focused on a pot that was sitting on top of a big box, the teen let the string loose and the arrow flew through the air at an extremely fast speed, the point pierced straight through the pot and buried itself deep in the wall. Jack laughed, "I think we've finally found you a weapon!" May laughed as well whilst giving Jack a high five.

May looked around, the forest was turning orange from the setting sun, "Jack, we better hurry, it's almost sunset!" Jack nodded, _"We'll be there soon, just a few more minutes!" _He said as he picked up the pace, running through the forest in his wolf form was a very risky choice because of his increased size, it made it harder to dodge the flowers. Jack slid down a hill and carried on running, May was having a hard job at staying on his back, all the bumping and rocking made it hard to balance. The two rounded a huge tree and came to a dirt road, May cheered, "We're almost there!" Now that the way was clear, Jack could run at full speed, he took off at a very fast pace.

(With Ash and Cynthia)

Cynthia crossed her arms and looked around with a worried look on her face, "I hope they're okay, it's almost sunset, they should have been here by now..." Ash waved her off, "Relax, May is with Jack, he won't let her get hurt" Cynthia smiled and nodded, although, Ash was beginning to feel a slight fear developing in the back of his mind. All of the fear and worry disappeared when the form of Jack in his wolf form appeared from around the corner, May waved to them as the two got closer.

Jack finally came to a stop in front of Ash and Cynthia, May slid off of his back and he morphed into his human form. "Sorry for the wait, we found something interesting." Said Jack as he looked at the bow that was on May's back, Ash raised a brow, "Hey May, where did you get that bow?" May smiled and looked at Jack who gave her a 'go ahead' gesture.

(One explanation later)

Ash laughed as the group exited the forest, "So I guess you're gonna use that bow from now on huh?" May nodded with the biggest smile on her face, "Uh huh! It feels almost natural!" Jack looked at Cynthia, "How'd it go for you guys?" The woman sighed, "There were more of those lizard things at the other side, we must have stumbled into their nest or something..." Jack smiled, "I'm just glad that both of you are safe" A blush appeared on Cynthia's face and she looked at the ground. "Where to next Jack?" Asked Ash, the brunette pointed straight ahead, the group looked in the direction of his finger, in the distance were tons of buildings and spires. "The great city of Rakava!"

**Thanks for reading guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. May now has a weapon! I was starting to feel like she was not really a part of the action scenes without one so now she is! I'm planning on slowing down the progression of the story just a bit to work on the bonds between our heroes since it was going to end too soon with the way I was going to write it in the first place. Until next time!**


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